In Pursuit of Revenge
by NetRaptor
Summary: Amy Rose is incensed that Sonic is marrying Sally and not her. Amy begins a quest to date everyone that Sonic disapproves of, with hilarious results. And an old friend has returned, but he is being hunted ...
1. Chapter 1: The wronged

In Pursuit of Revenge 

by K. M. Hollar

* * *

Copyright information: Sonic the hedgehog and related characters copyrighted by Sega and  
Archie comics. Serena, Slasher, Spike, and the concept of Mekion copyrighted by K. M. Hollar.  
Drasyre the Mithril Dragon and related concepts copyrighted by R.J. Adams, and used with  
permission.

* * *

Chapter 1: The wronged

Seliris Island stood four hundred miles off the coast of North Mobius, and six hundred miles  
from Central Mobius. It stood by itself in the middle of the ocean with no reason for anyone to  
travel there, and the shipping lanes passed far to the south of it.

It was skirted by a warm current from the equator, and the warm water combined with the frigid  
air created a constant fog that shrouded the island, veiling it from high-altitude eyes. The legends  
about it were almost as fantastic as those of the Floating Island, and both sets of legends included  
fabulous treasure and a fearsome guardian. The only creatures that lived there were seabirds that  
migrated there for their breeding season.

Among the birds, sentient and non-sentient, Seliris Island was well-known. Not every bird had  
the strength to travel between the island and the mainland more than twice a year, but one bird  
made a living ferrying passengers across the wide sea to lay eyes on the mystical lonely island.

She was called a Magnificent Frigatebird. Black as jet, with a wingspan of an airplane, she spent  
her life on the wing and could outdo even an albatross in sheer distance. She was still several  
years too young to take a mate, and in the impetuousness of youth she dared to challenge the  
wrath of the island's guardian by hosting aerial tours of his home. But so far he had not noticed.

Today she winged through the mist with a passenger strapped into the cloth saddle on her back,  
circling the rocky island and giving him glimpses of green hills, clumps of dark trees, and  
gleaming lakes reflecting the misty sky.

Her passenger was a green hedgehog. He wore goggles and a scarf over his face to protect it from  
the biting wind. He wore a silver circlet around his head with a black stone set in it against his  
forehead. His left hand was a black biomechanical implant, primitive and outdated, and the cold  
had locked it to the saddle's handgrip. He was too interested in the island below to care.

"Cerbeth," he said to his guide, "where does the guardian live?"

"In the cave system in the island's east end," the bird replied, banking left and beating her way  
through the mist. The island disappeared, and the hedgehog had to trust her sense of direction. He  
had lost his own when the mist enveloped the sun overhead.

"He doesn't care for visitors," said Cerbeth, parting her long beak in a savage smile. "You  
wouldn't believe the money I've been offered to take in treasure hunters, but my clients are worth  
more to me alive."

"Treasure hunters?" said her passenger, trying to sound disinterested. "There really is treasure  
down there?"

"I wouldn't know," said Cerbeth. "I don't fancy flying inside to find out. There's the cave  
entrance."

The mist parted ahead of them, and they looked down at a rocky hillside with a vast cave mouth  
yawning open in its side. A well-worn path wound from it out of sight down the mountain. The  
hedgehog stared at it as they flew over, leaning so far out of the saddle that he was in danger of  
falling out. "Can we go any closer?" he asked.

"Sure," said Cerbeth, circling back and diving toward the hillside.

The hedgehog wrenched his robotic hand free of the saddlegrip and leaped out into space.  
"Spark!" Cerbeth shrieked as he plunged earthward. He curled into a ball, struck the path and  
bounced fifteen feet in the air. He struck the ground again and rolled to a stop. Cerbeth dove  
toward him, tossing panicked looks up toward the cave mouth. She extended her feet to land, but  
Spark leaped up and ran like mad toward the cave.

"No!" she cried, then beat her way back into the air, terrified of the way her shrill voice echoed  
off the rocks. She dared not call again. She watched helplessly as the hedgehog plunged into the  
cave and vanished from sight. The idiot! The fool! Drasyre would eat him alive! And if he  
smelled frigatebird on Spark, he would come for Cerbeth, too. Oh, what should she do, what  
should she do?

She circled around and around, hardly beating her wings, watching and waiting, hoping against  
hope that Spark would emerge. The minutes passed. Nothing happened. She circled five, six,  
seven times, as slow as she could manage, cursing herself and her passenger.

Movement. Spark reappeared in the cave entrance and bounded down the path, looking over his  
shoulder as he ran. Cerbeth swooped toward him, heart hammering in joy at seeing him and  
terror at what might be pursuing him. He dashed toward her, caught the saddle's handgrip in  
midair and vaulted onto her back. "Get me out of here!" he ordered. "Now! Quick!"

"You are so stupid that words fail me," she snarled at him, her powerful black wings rocketing  
them into the cover of the fog. She looked at him over her shoulder and saw that the right side of  
his face was shining with blood. Clutched in one hand was a glowing diamond the size of a  
grapefruit.

"Now words for your stupidity REALLY fail me," she snapped. "He'll track you across the world  
to retrieve his treasure! Throw it down, please!" Her tone changed from scolding to begging.

"No," Spark replied softly, clutching the white gem to his chest. "I need it. You don't know how  
badly."

Cerbeth eyed him over her shoulder, and put two and two together. "That's a Chaos Emerald, isn't  
it?"

Spark nodded, and wiped blood off his face. "Get me back to the mainland as fast as you can. I  
need a Chaos Wizard to do what I need done. I need ..."

* * *

"Sonic Hedgehog!" 

Amy Rose stood in the middle of the street, feet wide apart, fists on her hips. Her pink spines,  
usually neatly brushed, now bristled with fury. "I told you to marry me! ME! And you've gone  
and--and--"

Sonic stood in the doorway of his hut, looking pained and cornered. It was 7 AM, and he had  
only just awakened, for his blue hairdo was in disarray and he was barefoot. Down the street,  
Sally emerged from her own hut, saw the standoff, and clapped a hand to her forehead. Other  
curious Mobians were looking out of their doors and windows, and some were grinning.

"Look, Amy," said Sonic, "you're nice and all, but--"

"I saw Sally's ring!" Amy shrieked. "You can't do that! You just can't! I love you, Sonic, I've told  
you a million times!" Her voice carried across the village.

A red tint crept into Sonic's cheeks. "Amy," he said in a low voice, "can you keep it down?"

"No!" cried Amy, eyes gleaming with tears. "They need to hear this! You cheated on me!"

"We were never an item to begin with!" Sonic snapped, his temper rising with his  
embarrassment. His eyes found Sally down the street, pleading, and she hurried forward. Sally  
was a fawn-colored squirrel, and was as trim and sleekly-groomed as Sonic was rumpled. Amy  
spun to face her as if expecting attack, teeth bared.

"Amy," said Sally softly, "Sonic will always be your friend. Our engagement will never change  
that." Her blue eyes searched Amy's furious green ones.

Amy glared for several seconds, panting. Then she wailed, "But he was going to marry ME!" She  
dissolved into tears and ran for her hut on the next street.

Sally turned and looked at Sonic. He was massaging his forehead, and raised his eyebrows. "I  
knew this would happen," he said in an undertone.

Sally put a hand to her own forehead and murmured, "Me too." Sonic heaved a sigh and retreated  
inside his hut to dress. Sally shook her head and walked back to her own hut, folding her arms  
and shivering.

It was midwinter. The trees of the Great Forest outside the village were bare and gray, the ground  
carpeted by fathoms of dead leaves. Their first winter snowfall had not lasted long, and the  
ground was hard and frozen underfoot. The sun shone brightly in a clear sky, but gave no  
warmth. Sonic and Sally had been engaged for two days before Amy found out, and her reaction  
was predictable. Sonic would definitely duck when he saw her coming for some time. Sally  
smiled to herself as she entered the warmth of her own hut. Poor Amy.

Amy nearly went home, but didn't feel like facing questions from her mother, such as, "Why are  
you crying?" and "Haven't I told you to leave Sonic alone?"

Instead she detoured into the privacy of the woods, wanting only to hide from inquiring eyes. She  
found a tree stump, sat on it and had a good cry, hating Sonic and Sally both. It burned inside of  
her like acid, a churning mix of anguish, betrayal and fury. Sonic should never have picked Sally!  
Didn't he see that Amy loved him? How could Sally do such a thing? Amy had always been in  
awe of Sally, considering the squirrel her vast superior in age and wisdom. But now she saw that  
Sally was just a know-nothing squealing fangirl who had snared Sonic with her wiles.

She was sniffing and wiping her eyes when she heard footsteps. She looked up, half-hoping it  
was Sonic coming to apologize. Instead she saw Serena, a dark violet hedgehog, Sonic's younger  
sister. She was several years older than Amy, but the two got along reasonably well. Serena was  
wearing a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, which were her eternal preferred style of choice.  
It worked well in the winter, for Amy was beginning to shiver in her flannel dress.

"You okay?" said Serena softly, pausing at a short distance with her hands in her pockets.

Amy nodded and sniffed.

Serena walked up and sat beside her on the tree stump. "His engagement was a shock, huh?" said  
Serena, trying not to smile.

"Yes!" wailed Amy. "How can he be serious about Sally? They haven't been going out or  
anything!"

"They do a lot of work together," said Serena, folding her hands in her lap and gazing at them.  
"They hang out all the time, too. I guess that counts."

"It's not fair!" Amy moaned, fresh tears welling to the surface. "I love him! Doesn't he know  
that?"

Serena shrugged. She knew quite well how much Amy annoyed Sonic, but wasn't about to point  
that out. Right now Amy needed someone to listen to her, so Serena listened and nodded  
sympathetically for the next twenty minutes.

Amy poured out her rage, frustration and hurt feelings. She described how much she hated Sally,  
and how she loved Sonic so much that she just hated him. She wanted to hurt him until he saw  
that he loved her. None of which made any sense, but Serena listened and was sympathetic  
anyway, inwardly shocked at the violence pouring from the pink hedgehog's mouth.

"And you know what," Amy concluded, "I'm going to date other guys now! Just to show Sonic  
that I can live without him. If he can blow me off, I can blow him off."

"Good idea," said Serena blandly. "There's lots of guys your age around here."

"Yeah," said Amy, wiping her eyes for the dozenth time. "Like Tails."

"Uh ... what?" said Serena. Her thoughts had wandered, and now jumped back to the original  
topic in alarm. "What about Tails?"

"We're almost the same age," said Amy. "Wouldn't it tick Sonic off if I dated Tails instead of  
him?"

"You think Tails would be interested?" Serena said. In her mind's eye she pictured Tails's face if  
he saw Amy coming for him. The anguished terror was easy to imagine.

"Of course he'd be interested," said Amy, patting her ruffled pink spines. "And if he's not, I'll find  
somebody who is. But don't worry, 'Rena. I'll stay away from Spike."

Serena twitched as if she had been electrocuted. "Why do you say that?" she said, feeling her face  
grow warm.

Amy smiled at her, her moist eyes dancing in mischief. "I've seen the way you look at him. You  
like him and his punk hair." Amy gestured, mimicking something exploding from the top of her  
head.

"Nobody's supposed to know," muttered Serena out of the corner of her mouth. "Do you know  
what Sonic would do if I started going out with Spike?"

"Yeah." Amy's eyes took on a red glint. "It'd make him mad. Madder than if I dated Spike. So  
you go ahead."

"I'm not out to hurt Sonic, thanks," said Serena, annoyed that Amy was so eager to use her to  
further her agenda.

Amy looked at her scornfully. "Too loyal to your brother, eh? I see how it is. Fine. I know what  
I'm going to do." She jumped off the stump and stalked back toward the village. Serena half-rose  
to follow her, but changed her mind and remained on the stump.

Serena and Sonic had grown apart in the past few years. He was increasingly involved with Sally,  
and he crossed paths with Serena less and less. Serena was studying natural remedies and botany  
in preparation for a Mobian medical school, and as a result remained in Knothole most of the  
time. And she watched as she and Sonic grew up and lived different lives.

She missed him terribly at first. They had been best friends, told each other everything and did  
everything together. Then suddenly he wasn't around as much. He preferred Sally's company  
more and more, and while Serena was hurt and jealous, she knew that it was how things had to  
be. Her hurt had died down and become a quiet resignation. But she needed a male influence in  
her life, so she had taken to hanging around Spike. Sonic would not approve if he knew, but  
Serena was careful to tell everyone that she and Spike were just friends. She doubted that even  
Spike knew how much she liked him.

And if Amy planned to use Serena as a weapon, then Serena would continue to do nothing. She  
shivered and stood up. The damp stump was slowly soaking her jeans. She brushed herself off  
and trotted back toward Knothole, wondering what Amy was up to.

* * *

Far away from the Great Forest, the Ice Cap mountains to the northeast had long been wrapped in  
snow and ice. Hidden deep in the bowels of one lofty peak was a series of tunnels and rooms.  
The walls and floors were stone and metal, cold to the touch, sucking away any warmth.  
Darkness ruled supreme, challenged only in one small room, where both lights and heaters defied  
the frozen mountain. 

But the lighted room was unoccupied. Its door stood open, letting a beam of friendly yellow light  
stream into the passage beyond it. At the point where the light faded to twilight, another door  
stood open, the room beyond it as black as a starless midnight.

The dim light touched a limp hand, gleaming on the sharp claw on each fingertip. The hand hung  
from a low cot, not quite touching the ground, and its owner was wrapped in darkness. A tiny  
creature stood beside this hand, peering up into the shadows. Eight inches tall, with soft round  
paws and big eyes, she looked harmless and gentle, contrasting with the power and potential  
violence of the hand. She touched it with a paw. "Mecha," she said softly. "Mecha, are you all  
right?"

The slit of a red eye appeared, glowing in the darkness. It focused on the chao for a moment, then  
winked out of existence again. The fingers flexed and went limp. The chao stroked the hand, then  
sighed and toddled out of the room, closing the door behind her.

She returned to the lighted room, looking small and comical as she closed the door, then  
scrambled into a chair. The chair was pulled up to a row of three computers, their monitors in a  
neat row on a table. Only one of these was on, and the chao gazed at it, pushing a mouse with  
both paws. She moved the cursor over a table of links and clicked on one entitled "depression".

The screen displayed, "A psychoneurotic or psychotic disorder marked especially by sadness,  
inactivity, difficulty in thinking and concentration, a significant increase or decrease in appetite  
and time spent sleeping, feelings of dejection and hopelessness, and sometimes suicidal  
tendencies."

Aleda read this slowly, making sure that she understood all the big words. That was what was  
wrong with Mecha, all right. Shadow had left two weeks earlier, and Mecha had done nothing  
but sleep ever since. Aleda had seen how Mekion made Shadow do bad things, like attack Mecha  
without warning, and she had been glad when Shadow left. But she had watched Mecha grow  
cold and silent, and sleep for hours and hours. This in itself was strange, because Mecha despised  
sleeping. Usually his nights were spent working or planning while Aleda slept beside him,  
comforted by the glow of his red eyes.

She did not know how Mecha had come to this point. How through a series of experiments, first  
on Shadow, then on himself, Mecha had converted his robotic body into a semi-biological one. A  
body that breathed oxygen, consumed food, and bled when injured. But he had taken Shadow and  
converted half the hedgehog's body into a machine, testing to see if biomechanical machinery  
could indeed integrate into a living body. The experiment was a success in that Shadow survived,  
but a failure in that the additional hardware in Shadow's brain that controlled the robotic limbs  
also sought to control Shadow, himself.

Mecha and Shadow had become friends, and the stronger their friendship became, the more  
Mecha regretted his experiments on the black hedgehog. Shadow was no longer Shadow. He was  
Mekion, a calculating, cruel personality who acted disturbingly similar to Mecha before he had  
left the service of Dr. Robotnik. Thus, when Shadow was critically damaged and could no longer  
control his robotic mind, he had to leave Mecha and seek exile in a world where semi-robots  
were treated with fear and suspicion.

This prospect had ground Mecha down into depression, and he sought solace in sleep. In  
addition, Mecha had been grievously damaged while trying to free Shadow from Dr. Robotnik,  
and his complex body took a long time to repair itself. Which was another reason for his near  
hibernation; Mecha was in pain while awake.

Aleda was left to her own devices for two weeks, and took to playing with the computers. She  
figured out how to access the information network that Mecha used, and did research on Mecha's  
ailment. It was hard without Nox. Nox was Shadow's chao, and had accompanied his master into  
the unknown. He had the ability to feel the emotions and moods in other people, and he had been  
an accurate barometer of both Shadow and Mecha. Without him, Aleda didn't know how Mecha  
felt, nor could she persuade him to awaken long enough to tell her.

She was scrolling through a website filled with pictures of Mobius landmarks when she heard the  
control room door open. She spun around with a gasp to see Mecha standing there. For having  
no fur, he looked bedraggled; his usually shiny blue skin was a dull, tarnished smoke color, his  
ears drooped, and he was squinting in the bright light. He was holding one hand against his  
stomach, nursing the closed bullet wound that his motion had agitated. He looked at Aleda and  
the computer with an upset, accusing expression. "Aleda," he said softly, "what are you doing on  
that console?"

His voice was hoarse and raspy from a fortnight of disuse, and there was no trace of the tinny,  
metallic timbre that robotic voices usually had. Mecha formed his speech with a synthetic larynx,  
tongue, teeth and lips, like a living creature. Indeed, Mecha occupied a gray area between the  
robotic and the organic, part of both but entirely neither.

Aleda looked guiltily at the glowing monitor. She knew that she wasn't allowed to use the  
computers without permission. "I was looking for places to go," she said. "Next time we go  
traveling." Which was the truth--it was what she was doing at that exact moment. She didn't  
know what Mecha might think of her research attempts on his problems.

He limped to the console and leaned against it with one hand. With the other he speed-typed on  
the keyboard, reviewing the log of everything Aleda had done online. When he found the medical  
dictionary on depression, his expression softened. He read it, identifying his symptoms and  
secretly experiencing a stab of joy that Aleda was intelligent enough to reach this conclusion  
completely through empirical observation.

He turned to her. "Do you believe that I am suffering from depression?"

"Yes," said the chao, hearing the gentleness in his voice and relieved that she wasn't in trouble.  
"You slept so much that it scared me. I wanted to know why."

Mecha was silent a moment, then gathered her up in his arms and stroked her head. It was a sort  
of affection he only displayed when deeply moved or grieved; emotions were still new to the  
ex-robot, and he had trouble expressing them.

"I am depressed," he said quietly. "Do you know why?"

"Because ... Shadow's gone?" Aleda ventured.

"Yes," said Mecha, closing his eyes for a moment. There was a tell-tale burning behind them, and  
he waited until it faded. "But not only because he is gone. Because of why he had to depart."

"Mekion was messed up, wasn't he?" said Aleda, leaning back to peer into his face.

Mecha kept his eyes fixed on a spot just over her shoulder, too guilty to look her in the eye. "I am  
the reason that he is Mekion. I am the reason for his torment. I cannot undo the damage, and it is  
increasing exponentially now that Mekion's operating system is corrupted." His voice cracked,  
and he fell silent for a moment, closing his eyes. Difficult as it was, it was a relief to confess his  
crime to someone.

He cleared his throat and continued. "Any other creature would have died by now, but it is  
incredibly difficult for Shadow to die. He does not age, and heals immediately from any wound.  
Because of this, it is doubly dangerous for his minds to war with each other. Suppose Mekion  
triumphs. There is hardly a being on this planet who could stand in his way."

Aleda shivered. She had not thought about what might happen to Shadow out there, alone with  
his maniac robot half. No wonder Mecha was depressed. His lone friend was also potentially his  
greatest enemy. But not only Mecha's enemy--the enemy of all Mobius.

"Shadow said that he would learn to control Mekion, though," said Aleda. It hurt her to see  
Mecha's eyes glisten so dangerously, and hear that unusual tone in his voice. She clung to hope  
for him. "He can do that, right? He can beat Mekion?"

"Yes," said Mecha heavily. "There are equal odds that Shadow shall triumph. But this debate  
would not transpire at all were it not for my interference."

Aleda didn't know what to say, so she laid her head on his chest and patted his arm. He held her  
for a long time, stroking her with his sculpted, powerful hands, never letting his claws brush her  
fur. At last he turned back to the computer and set her on the desk. "I observed that you were  
investigating landmarks. May I inquire why?"

"Oh," said Aleda, her crimson eyes lighting up. "I was looking for places where the Master  
Designer might live."

"Really." The corner of Mecha's mouth curled in a smile. "How do you conclude that he would  
reside near a natural formation on the planet?"

"Well, if he made it all," said Aleda, "he might have a favorite place to live or something. And ...  
I kind of wanted to see these places. See the picture of the Viper Canyon? And Mount  
Everwhite? And the crater of a volcano with a city on an island in the lake in the center?" Aleda  
talked faster and faster as her enthusiasm bubbled to the surface.

Mecha was amused, but also found that the idea of seeking the Master Designer in locations of  
natural beauty appealed to him. "Perhaps," he said. He pulled up a map on the screen, which was  
marked with the locations he planned to visit for research purposes. "There are several places in  
which you might be interested on our next trip ..."


	2. Chapter 2: The Arrival

Chapter 2 - The arrival 

Tails lay on a wheeled dolly that was slid under the belly of the Tornado, his transforming biplane. He wore a welding mask, and was repairing an armor plate that had cracked, torch in hand, when he heard his workshop door open.

"Tails?" called a high-pitched female voice.

Tails cringed inside and ground his teeth. "Just a minute, Amy," he called.

As he continued welding along the crack, inserting a strip of solder, he wondered what Amy wanted. She normally had nothing to do with him, and only appeared in his shop when she wanted something. Usually it was when she suspected that Sonic was there. The older Amy grew,  
the more she annoyed Tails. He always figured that he might like her if she got over herself and stopped whining about everything. Like Sonic. One of Tails's chief delights was seeing Sonic duck into doorways and behind trees whenever Amy appeared.

Tails finished his weld, rolled out from under the biplane and flipped up his mask. Amy was standing beside the plane with her hands on her hips, looking fierce.

"What?" said Tails.

"Want to go on a date with me?" said Amy.

Tails stood up and stared at her. "What, is this some kind of joke?"

"No," said Amy, eyes flashing. "Sonic's getting MARRIED, so I'm looking for alternatives."

Tails said, "Oh," his mouth forming a perfect circle. He and Sonic had speculated about Amy's reaction, but they hadn't anticipated this.

"So I want to date you," said Amy, folding her arms. "You've always been nice to me, at least."

"Um." Tails didn't know what to say. He backed away from her with the excuse of setting down his torch. He would rather die than date Amy. Go anywhere with Amy. Be seen with Amy. The idea made his fur prickle with embarrassment.

Amy seemed to read his mind. "If you won't go on a date with me, I'm going to sit right here until you do."

Tails nodded without speaking. Maybe if he waited her out, she would go away. He grabbed another strip of solder and dove back under the biplane.

He heard a squeak, and the biplane shifted above him. Amy had climbed into the cockpit. "Hey Tails," Amy called over the side, "how do you start the engine?"

"Don't touch anything," said Tails. "Get out of there. If you knock this thing off the blocks with me down here--"

Amy interrupted him. "The computer screen is on, how cool! It's showing a picture of me! It's really good! When did you take this? I didn't know you had pictures of me!"

"It's the Tornado's identification program," Tails growled, welding as quickly as he could.

"So it knows who I am?" squealed Amy. "Make it talk, Tails! I know it can. Hey Tornado, say hi!"

Tails's patience was ebbing fast. "Amy, it's in sleep mode. It can't talk right now."

"Aww."

A moment of silence.

Then Amy started bouncing up and down in the seat. "Gonna go out with me yet?"

"Amy!" Tails yelled, bracing the Tornado's belly with his free hand. The craft was jumping off its support blocks.

"I'll stop it if you go out with me," said Amy, sounding giggly.

Tails's exasperation got the better of him. "Okay, fine, I'll go out with you! Now stop it!"

Amy climbed out of the cockpit, crouched and looked under the plane at him. "Okay, meet you at six o' clock. Bye, Tails!"

She bounced out of the workshop, slamming the door behind her, and Tails lay on his dolly in limp relief, wondering what he had just done.

* * *

It was late afternoon. Serena was in her hut, having just arrived back from school in New Mobitropolis, and was sorting her books and homework when the door open and Sonic barged in.

Serena whirled around, indignant that he hadn't knocked, but her protests died on her lips at the look on his face. Sonic was ashen, his eyes wide and shocked. He clutched a piece of paper in one hand, which he thrust at her. "Picked up my email after work," he said hoarsely.

Serena flattened out the paper and read the printed words. "Yo, Sonic. Hope you guys haven't forgotten me. I'm on my way home. Could you meet me at the Sapphire City train station at 2:00 PM on Friday, January 23rd? I need your help. -- Spark

Joy and shock hit Serena a blow in the chest. She looked up at Sonic, mouth hanging open.  
"Spark! Spark's coming home!"

Sonic nodded. "I can't believe it. It's been, what, three, almost four years now?"

Serena nodded. Shortly after the ARK incident, Spark had unobtrusively slipped out of Knothole and had not been heard from since. He was their elder brother, a green hedgehog afflicted with recurring illness and a wanderlust that kept him on the move. Serena and Sonic both thought highly of him, and had quietly worried about him throughout his absence, not last because his previous occupation as one of Robotnik's assassins had left him with many enemies.

"January twenty-third," said Serena, looking at her wall calender, which sported closeups of bright flowers. "That's in two days. Think we could pick him up in the Tornado? If he needs help ..."

"Yeah, he may not be up for a walkathon," said Sonic. "I could teleport, but ... Spark ..." He trailed off. Spark's illness was aggravated by high amounts of power, electricity and chaos energy included. This was unfortunate, for Spark's special ability was generating a powerful static charge that he released through the palms of his hands.

"We can fly down, and I'll take my emerald, just in case," said Sonic. He was regaining his composure as the shock wore off. The color returned to his cheeks, and his quick smile reappeared. The pleasure of seeing his brother again was overwhelming all other concerns. "He might be up for a teleport. You want to come, right?"

"Heck yes," said Serena. "He sounds okay in his letter, but since when has mister high and mighty ever asked for help?"

"Yeah, I thought of that," said Sonic, eyes dropping anxiously to the letter. "I'd better ask Tails if he can take a flight on Friday. I hope he hasn't dismantled the Tornado again to put in its eyes."

"Yeah," said Serena, following him to the door. "I'm gonna show this letter to Slasher. She was pretty broken up when Spark left without a word."

"Really?" said Sonic, stepping outside. "She never said anything."

"She didn't have to," said Serena. "You're hopelessly unobservant, Sonic."

"Yeah, I know," said Sonic. He was about to say something else, but froze on Serena's doorstep,  
staring at something. Serena stepped around him and froze, too.

Tails and Amy strode down the street toward them, arm in arm. As they drew closer in the evening twilight, it became apparent that Amy was steering. She was gazing anywhere but at Sonic. Tails, on the other hand, was looking helplessly at Sonic and shaking his head in wordless terror.

Sonic and Serena watched as the hapless pair strolled by. When they were opposite each other,  
Amy met Sonic's eye and stuck out her tongue at him. She marched on, dragging Tails, who looked as if he was going to the chopping block.

Sonic doubled up and howled with laughter.

Amy stiffened, but did not look back, and Tails moaned. Sonic's laughter followed them all the way up the street.

"Sonic, you shouldn't laugh," said Serena, but she was having trouble hiding her own grin.  
"Amy's trying to make your life miserable."

"Not just mine!" Sonic whooped, slapping his thighs. "Oh man, Tails will never life this one down! That's hysterical! Did you see his face?"

"Well, you laugh it up," said Serena, trying to sound irritated. "I'm gonna go talk to Slasher."

She could hear him laughing all the way to Slasher's hut.

Slasher lived in a tiny, one-roomed hut on the outskirts of Knothole, tucked away among the trees. A single light burned inside. Serena knocked, and a growling voice said, "Come in." Serena stepped in, closing the door behind her.

The hut was very warm, and had two pieces of furniture in it. One was a desk with three drawers.  
The other was a round, nest-like bed on the floor, made of canvas stretched over straw. Curled up in this nest was a reptilian creature more than four times Serena's size, its long tail seeming to circle the whole room. Slasher's narrow head was lifted and curved, cobra-like, to face the door.  
Her nostrils flared as Serena stepped in, and the velociraptor said, "Oh, hello Serena." Her voice was low and gravelly, as if her vocal chords were more suited to roars and screeches. A pair of gold-feathered wings were tucked to her sides, covering her body. They were biomechanical implants, and worked well as wings and blankets. A book was clutched in her three-fingered hands, and she laid it aside and sat up on her haunches like a dog.

Serena sat down on the edge of the nest and handed the dinosaur Spark's letter. "Sonic got this today. Thought you might be interested."

Slasher's green eyes swept the few lines once, then several times. She fixed one eye on Serena.  
"Spark's coming back?"

"Yes," said Serena. "Isn't that great?"

Slasher read the letter again. To anyone else she was expressionless, but Serena had been friends with the raptor for years and had learned to read her face. Slasher was overcome. She blinked her third eyelid rapidly to keep back tears. Her claw was rocky-steady as she handed the letter back to Serena, but her voice had the smallest of tremors as she said, "I've been so worried about him .  
I've tried tracking him, but he hid them too well. He blends in, that one. He should have been born a chameleon."

Serena patted the raptor's shoulder, just below her wing joint. "I know. We're worried that he's sick or something, because he said he needed help."

"Yes," murmured Slasher, almost growling. "He would wait until he has a flare-up to come home. But it must not be affecting his mind this time. He sounds lucid enough in the letter."

"Yeah." Serena looked down. "I was wondering if he might respond to some natural treatment.  
You know. Fruits, vegetables, herbs, that sort of thing."

"It wouldn't hurt to try," said Slasher. "Who knows what condition the little idiot's gotten himself into?" She sounded irritated, but Serena knew that Slasher's worry about Spark's safety had become worry about his health.

Serena stood up. "Just thought I'd tell you that. Oh yeah. Did you know that Amy's dating Tails?"

Slasher's teeth bared in an ear-to-ear grin. "Is that was Sonic was laughing about?"

"Yep."

"Well! No wonder." Slasher chuckled deep in her throat, sounding like a boiling kettle. "I wonder what will come of that?"

"I shudder to think," said Serena.

* * *

Tails escaped Amy at eight o' clock and locked himself in his workshop. There he climbed into the Tornado's cockpit and sat with his knees drawn to his chest, nursing his wounded pride.

After Sonic had laughed at them, Amy had been in a foul mood. They went to New Mobitropolis and had dinner, which consisted of angst with venom sauce, and Tails cut it short with the excuse of leaving the Tornado running.

Tails wanted to crawl into a hole and never see anyone ever again. Amy was bad enough, but the way Sonic had laughed ... Tails's feelings were hurt, even though he knew that Sonic would laugh. Tails had laughed at Sonic all these years because of Amy, and now the tables were turned. He just hadn't expected it to hurt so much.

A soft knock at the door made him sit up with a jerk. Had Amy followed him? He didn't want to see anyone anyway. "Go away," he growled.

"Tails, it's me," Sonic called softly from outside. "Mind opening up for a minute?"

Tails glared at the door. No, he did not want to open that door and let Sonic in. Because of Sonic,  
Amy had humiliated Tails, and on top of that, Sonic had laughed at him. A wave of heat spread down his neck at the very thought.

"Going to laugh at me some more?" asked Tails.

Sonic's voice was so quiet that Tails could hardly hear him through the door. "I'm really sorry,  
little bro. That's what I wanted to talk about."

Oh. Tails felt the resentment ebb inside of him and be replaced by a different sort of embarrassment; the humiliation that he had been so angry at his best friend. He climbed out of the Tornado, ran to the door, unlocked and opened it.

Sonic stepped in, wearing a jacket with his hands thrust in the pockets. Tails closed the door behind him and stood looking at him, wary and expectant.

"I really am sorry about all this," said Sonic. "Amy's out to hurt everybody, I think. "'Hades hath no fury like a woman scorned', right?"

Tails thought of dinner. "You can say that again. I've never seen her like this."

Sonic laid a hand on Tails's shoulder. His green eyes were kind. "Don't let her get to you, little bro. We both know she goes through fads like this. Remember the bunny ears?"

Tails snorted with laughter. Amy had found a pair of costume bunny ears and wore them everywhere for almost a month.

Sonic grinned, too. "She'll get tired of this after a while, too."

"Could you talk to her?" pled Tails. "Maybe you could call her off or something. I can't stand being laughed at, Sonic!"

"I'll try," said Sonic with a sigh, shaking his head in exasperation. "I don't think it'll do any good,  
though. Sally and I aren't going to break up or anything."

"I tried telling her that," said Tails, rubbing his temples. "She doesn't get it."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "She always pulls stuff like this. If she had played hard to get, I might have been interested. I don't like being chased. It's kind of ... shocking."

Tails nodded. "I don't like it, either. That, and she's so whiny." Their gripes about Amy was comforting and familiar; both of them had complained about her for years. Then Sonic asked if Tails could fly them down to Sapphire City in a few days, and Tails agreed.

By the time Sonic left, Tails was feeling cheerful again. The whole Amy situation seemed like a joke, and he felt able to face Knothole tomorrow. Sonic was on his side, even if he did laugh.  
That was all that mattered.

* * *

Hundreds of miles to the south, a winter storm system lay over the coast, drenching it in rain. It was a frigid, soaking rain that penetrating roofs and doorframes, to say nothing of coats,  
umbrellas and fur.

It was nearly midnight, and the streets of Sapphire City were empty. No one in their right mind would venture out this late when it was raining this hard. But the black hedgehog had not been in his right mind in weeks. He walked down the middle of the road, head bowed and shoulders hunched, the water dripping from the end of his quills, elbows and nose. His footsteps rand against the asphalt, betraying his metal foot, and the rain plinked on his metal arm and leg as it did on nearby parked cars.

Huddled in the crook of his right arm--the non-robotic one--was a black chao. He was invisible in the darkness, camouflaged against Shadow's soaked fur. He held a limp scrap of paper in one round paw, and his head turned this way and that as he squinted through the rain, reading addresses.

Shadow raised his mechanical hand to his mouth and coughed: a wracking, tearing sound that forced him to double over. He straightened up again, breathing slowly and carefully. His breath rattled in his throat. "Nox," he whispered, rubbing his neck, "where are we?"

"Another block, I think," said the chao, his voice clear as crystal compared to his master's harsh rasp. "We're almost there."

One of Shadow's eyes--his left one--glowed a steady red, like Mecha's. But while Metal Sonic's red eyes had taken on kinder hues of late, Shadow's eye shone with hot malice. The mind that governed this eye was called Mekion, the deadly damaged robot who had consumed half the hedgehog's body. Shadow's natural eye--the right one--did not glow. His eyelid drooped with exhaustion, and blinked often against the raindrops. He and Nox were shivering, but Shadow merely held the chao's warm body a little closer to himself and trudged on.

Mekion was there in Shadow's mind, a cold, silent presence, as indifferent as a reptile, waiting.  
Shadow's will coincided with Mekion's at the moment, so their struggle for mastery was at a temporary truce. Neither wanted to die. Both understood the importance of finding shelter, and both knew that they had one ally in the world aside from Mecha. Shadow had the additional concern of Nox. The chao was tough, but he disliked cold and wet as much as Shadow did, and prolonged exposure would kill anyone.

Shadow coughed again, tasting blood this time. He staggered to a halt until the fit passed, then walked on. Nox looked up at him anxiously. "Shadow ... is Mekion making you sick?"

Shadow shook his head. Mekion's control was mental, and he could not harm Shadow's organs.  
This was a burning pain in his throat, probably some kind of illness. It hurt to talk. He pointed at the paper in Nox's paw, and Nox resumed looking for the right address.

They turned a corner, and Nox said, "There's the apartment complex. We need room thirty-nine."

Shadow nodded. He opened the gate and stepped into the complex's courtyard. Parking garages lined three sides of it, and rising above them were the doors and windows of the apartments.

Mekion's eye zoomed in and focused on the numbers on the doors. Shadow had not asked Mekion to do this, but used the zoom anyway. Mekion acted without Shadow's permission all the time now, since Dr. Robotnik had damaged Mekion in an attempt to modify his loyalty setting.  
Mekion was loyal to none. Shadow hated and feared this other personality--this artificial side of him that had no scruples, no problem with backstabbing and killing as long as it benefitted them in some way.

Door 39. Shadow pointed it out silently to Nox, and clanked across the courtyard to the stairs. He was acutely aware of the racket he made, and moved slower to soften the noise. He climbed the stairs carefully and crossed a landing to the target door. He rubbed his sore throat and knocked.

After a moment a light ignited behind the blinds, and Shadow heard footsteps behind the door.  
The deadbolt clicked open, and the door opened four inches. Shadow could see the safety chain in the light of the lamp inside. A rumpled human in a bathrobe squinted out at the hedgehog.  
"What do you want?"

"Nick, it's Shadow," whispered the hedgehog. "I need your help."

The human said, "Shadow?" He stood there for several seconds, scrutinizing the black hedgehog in the rain. Then he unhooked the safety chain and opened the door wide. "Come in, quick,  
before somebody sees you."

Shadow stepped into the warmth of the apartment and stood dripping on the carpet. Nick closed and locked the door behind him, then said, "Come back here and dry off in the bathroom."

Shadow followed the human. The apartment was a studio, which meant that the kitchen, living room and bedroom were all in one room. The bathroom was the only separate room. There was hardly any furniture--a sofa, a table with a few chairs, a cot instead of a real bed. Nick himself was in his early twenties with reddish brown hair, hazel eyes, and twenty-four hours worth of stubble on his face. His hair and eyebrows were growing back, and he looked as if he had a very short haircut now, instead of looking like a radiation patient.

Nick showed Shadow into the tiny bathroom, and almost jumped out of his skin when Nox said,  
"You don't have to be so scared. Nobody knows we're here."

"What is that thing?" gasped Nick, leaping back.

"My chao," whispered Shadow, setting him on the sink. "His name is Nox--" His throat caught and Shadow coughed violently, gripping the sink for support. Nick watched from the doorway,  
looking shell shocked. Shadow recovered and straightened up, panting and rubbing his aching throat.

Nox said, "I think he's sick, mister Nick. Which is weird, because he can't get sick."

"Join the club," said the human with a wry smile, running a hand through the sparse growth on his scalp. "You ought to try living when you're supposed to be dead. I've been all but excluded from my nanotech firm because of you, Shadow."

Shadow unfolded a towel and rubbed Nox dry, then started on himself. "I wish I were dead," he whispered savagely. "I apologize for imposing on you, Nick. But you are the only being in the world for whom Mekion does not carry a deep grudge." He had to stop and cough again. Nick frowned and vanished.

As Shadow finished drying himself, the human reappeared with a cup of something that smelled lemony and steamed. "This will help your throat," said Nick. "Come in here."

Shadow beckoned to Nox, re-entered the living area, and sat on the floor. Shadow held the mug in both hands and sipped the liquid. There was alcohol in it, for he could taste it at the back of his tongue, but it did feel good to his throat and chilled insides. Nick brought a smaller cup of lemon juice for Nox, but without the brandy. Then Nick sat on the couch and gazed at the black hedgehog and chao. "So what brings you here?" he asked. "I never thought I'd see you again,  
Shadow."

"It's quite simple," whispered Shadow. "Dr. Robotnik has extensively damaged Mekion. I could no longer remain in Metal Sonic's presence. But due to the weather, I had to seek shelter somewhere. You are perhaps my only other friend in the world." So much talking made him cough, but the hot toddy had loosened up his throat, and it didn't hurt as much.

Shadow and Nick kept an eye on each other as Shadow drank. They had been thrown together through unfortunate circumstances; first Nick was part of a team intended to experiment on Shadow, but when Nick tried to escape, he was used as a test subject, himself. Dr. Robotnik had forced Shadow to all but incinerate Nick with chaos energy, but because of special nanites in Nick's bloodstream, his body had absorbed the power instead. Nick's clothing and hair had been burned off, and it was taking a while to grow back.

Shadow and Nick had seen each other suffer, and had been chained together for a long period. It forged a bond of friendship between them, unlikely as it was; Nick had been kind to Shadow even while Shadow had been in pain, and now Shadow was calling on that kindness once more.  
As the black hedgehog sat there with a hot drink in his hands in a dry, warm haven, he felt a sick knot ease in his stomach. Tonight he could rest.

Nick regarded Shadow as a dangerous individual whom he was thankful considered him a friend. Like being on a hitman's good side. Nick had grown up in the Mobian culture, and liked them better than humans, but Shadow was different. As Shadow sipped his drink, his natural eye roamed the apartment, missing nothing. But his digital eye stared straight ahead. His brain was so divided that his eyes tracked separately, like a chameleon, and it gave Nick the creeps.

Nox had been watching Shadow and Nick, and reading their feelings. He broke the silence with his high, clear voice. "You like Shadow, don't you, mister Nick? Shadow likes you, too. But you're both afraid."

Nick stared. "You can read minds?"

"Just feelings," whispered Shadow. "He is a sympath."

Nick thought this was just as bad as mind-reading, but said nothing.

Nox hung his head. "Sorry. Shadow's told me not to tell strangers how they feel."

Disturbed, Nick jumped up and began to pace. Shadow had seen him do this while imprisoned back in the lab. Nick was nervous and unsettled. "Shadow," he said, gazing at the floor as he walked, "I wish I could let you stay here, but I just can't. I'm barely making the rent each month,  
and ..." He trailed off. Did Shadow understand financial problems? He sneaked a look at him.  
Both of Shadow's eyes were following Nick's motions, and Nick wondered if this was a good thing.

Shadow shrugged one shoulder, and for the first time Nick realized that the hedgehog was wearing a black knapsack over one shoulder. As Shadow set it in his lap, Nick saw that the bag had once been a backpack, but Shadow's metal spines had shredded the left strap. The bag itself was tiny and grubby, as if Shadow had recovered it from a dumpster. Inside was a glowing orange gem, and at the sight of it Nick's skin prickled all over. The chaos energy in his body responded to the presence of its power source, and Nick had a sudden urge to snatch up the gem.

Shadow pulled something out of the bag and held it out. Nick took it. A debit-card,  
multi-national, under the name of one M. Echa II. Nick almost dropped it. "Shadow, did you--did you steal this from Metal Sonic?"

"He gave it to me," whispered Shadow. His robot eye was again staring straight ahead, while his real eye was fixed on Nick. "It's his way of looking after me, even though he cannot be here. Use it to buy supplies."

Nick set the card on the table as if it was red-hot. "He, uh, won't mind?"

"No," said Shadow. "If he does, I shall explain the situation. Mecha is reasonable about such things."

Nick wasn't certain that he liked this, but he nodded and swallowed. It looked like he would be hosting a split-personality android and mind-reading chao for a while.

* * *

Afternoon light streamed through the windows of the Station Square train station in Sapphire City, throwing warm yellow squares on the floor. It was two days later, and Sonic, Serena and Tails were waiting nervously on the platform. The train would enter the station through a long glass tunnel, and every few minutes one of them would lean out and peer down the tunnel.

"It's late," said Tails, checking his wristwatch.

"Really late," said Serena, watching the station clock. It was nearly three. "Did they run off the rails or something?"

"You're asking me?" said Sonic. He was pacing up and down the platform, his walk so fast that Tails and Serena would have had to run to keep up. "I'll bet I know what happened. Spark built up a static charge and touched the frame of the car, and shorted out the whole train."

"He wouldn't do that, would he?" said Serena, wide-eyed.

"He couldn't do that," said Tails calmly. "A power surge would throw the circuit breakers,  
knocking out power to that car, but it wouldn't affect the engine."

"Figures, I should have asked the Professor," said Sonic, still pacing.

"Sonic--" Serena began, but Tails interrupted her.

"Here it comes!"

All three hurried to the edge of the platform to gaze down the tunnel. The train was advancing at a leisurely pace, gleaming in the sunlight with the shadows of the tunnel supports flicking over it in stripes. It entered the station with a screech of brakes, pulled past in a gust of diesel exhaust,  
and finally halted. The doors opened, and people climbed out, talking and hauling their luggage.  
The three Mobians clustered together, only half the size of the disembarking humans, and peered through the forest of legs for a glimpse of green fur.

There he was. They saw him framed in the doorway, carrying a single dufflebag, looking around uncertainly, and glancing over his shoulder into the train car. Then he saw them, and his familiar mischievous grin lit up his face.

A moment later Spark was being hugged by Serena, and having his hands pumped by Sonic and Tails. His bag was wrenched from him, and he was escorted out of the station to the parking lot,  
where the Tornado awaited them in car-mode.

Once away from the noise and bustle of the station, Sonic had a chance to study his brother in the clear, rain-washed sunlight. Spark was an inch taller than Sonic, with lime-green quills. When Sonic had last seen him, Spark had a black stripe down the top of his head that ringed his eyes like a raccoon's mask. Sonic was disturbed to see that the black stripe and mask were growing.  
The fur around Spark's muzzle and ears was mottled with black, as if an infection was slowly spreading across his body. Black spots had even appeared down his back and legs. In addition,  
Spark was very thin, as if he had not been eating well, and his fur had an unhealthy odor. Sonic,  
Tails and Serena sneaked looks at each other, reading the same alarm in everyone's eyes. The prodigal had returned with the marks of his exile heavy upon him.

"Hey Spark," said Sonic, hefting his green chaos emerald, "do you think you could handle a teleport?"

Spark's eyes darted from the jewel to Sonic and back, looking surprised and amazed. "So ... it's true?" said Spark softly. "You can really use chaos power like they say?"

Sonic was taken aback. "You mean to teleport? Yeah, that's easy. I could even do that with Super Emeralds."

Spark looked at Serena and Tails. "Whoa, modest, too! What have you guys done to him while I've been gone?"

Serena and Tails grinned. "Give him a minute," said Tails. "His ego will come out on top."

"I get no slack from you guys," said Sonic, faking annoyance. "Anyway Spark, can you handle a teleport?"

"Sure, that'd be great," said Spark, glancing over his shoulder at the station. "I can't wait to get home."

Sonic made them all climb into the Tornado, and teleported the Tornado and its contents back to Knothole, placing them just behind Tails's workshop.

Their rapid travel was fortunate. The last person to disembark from the train was a Mobian dog with two swords hanging from his belt. He was almost as tall as a human, and wore a regal, if outdated, blue robe with silver fringes and needlework. He stood on the platform as it emptied,  
his sleek head in the air, sniffing. Then he strode down the steps and out the door, guided by his nose.

He walked all the way to the parking lot, stooping once in a while to sniff at the ground. The thief's scent was fresh and close. He had been here. But the scent ended in the parking lot. The silver retriever cast about in circles, his white fur gleaming in the sun, robe billowing about his muscular body. The scent was gone. His quarry had vanished into thin air.

No. The thief couldn't have escaped so easily. Drasyre could have grabbed him on the train, if not for the other passengers. The thief had kept moving, too, ducking and hiding throughout the journey. Any longer and Drasyre would have caught him.

Of course, the thief also had a chaos emerald. Drasyre knew how powerful Chaos Gems were.  
The thief must have had a contact who could Chaos-Jump him to somewhere else.

The silver dog sank down against the wall of the train station, not caring if his robe was soiled by the grimy asphalt, and held his head in both hands. What was he going to do now? He was far from home, and couldn't get back, because he had no currency for this territory. He needed that Chaos Emerald. Everything within him screamed for it. That emerald was HIS, and without it he was lost. Doomed.

Drasyre indulged in ten minutes of self-pity, then climbed to his feet again. Surely he could find help. There must be police here somewhere.

An hour later, the silver retriever was seated on a chair in a police station, filing a report. The police reporter was a middle-aged woman with short grey hair, and took no nonsense from anyone, least of all Mobians. "Name?" she said.

"Drasyre Vissiri Salacin," he replied in a cultured accent. He pronounced his words carefully, as if New Mobian was not his first language. He spelled all three names for her.

"Where are you from?" she asked.

"Seliris Island," said Drasyre. "I ... reside and work there."

"What field of work?"

"Pardon?" said Drasyre, ears flattening slightly. "I do not work in fields."

"No," said the reporter impatiently, "what do you do?"

"Oh. I am a caretaker."

She wrote this down, and said, "Identification number?"

Drasyre looked blank.

The reporter said, "Your government assigns you a number at birth."

"I was born more than two centuries ago," said Drasyre. "Your government did not exist then."

The reporter raised an eyebrow. "How old are you?"

Drasyre gazed at the ceiling a moment. "Two hundred twenty-six this June."

The reporter wrote "26" on her form. She looked distinctly irritated. "You said that something was stolen from you?"

"Yes," said Drasyre. "A large white em--diamond. It was the crown of my collection."

The reporter wrote for several seconds, then said, "Can you give me a description of the thief?"

"Hedgehog," said Drasyre, eyes unfocusing as he gazed into his memory. "Between three and four feet tall, green and black quills. His eyes were green or yellow. He had dark colored boots.  
Grey, perhaps." He paused, thinking. "Oh yes. His left arm was made of metal. I believe the word is 'robotic'."

The reporter nodded. "Where did the robbery take place?"

"On Seliris Island," said Drasyre. "I tracked him here, to Sapphire City. We arrived on the two o'  
clock train, but he eluded pursuit and vanished."

The reporter looked interested as she noted this down. "Very well. We have a good chance of identifying the thief. Where can we reach you?"

Drasyre looked at the four walls, remembering that he had nowhere to go. "Ah. Yes. That. Well,  
you understand that I have the best of intentions, but the fact of the matter is--"

"He's with me, Darlene," said a voice behind him.

Drasyre turned to see a crocodile standing behind his chair. The reporter nodded. "Very well,  
Vector. I have your cell number."

Drasyre stood up. He and Vector were the same height. Vector wore a trenchcoat that nonetheless could not hide his thick, scaley tail and long snout. Vector extended a hand, and Drasyre shook it.  
"Nice to meet you, Drasyre," said the crocodile. "I'm Vector of the Chaotix Detective Agency down in Rio del Fuego. Overheard your report. Want to talk over lunch?"

"That would be marvelous," said Drasyre, smiling and showing a handsome set of flawless white teeth.


	3. Chapter 3: Death and Life

Chapter 3 - Death and life

* * *

Spark sat in his old hammock in his hut, rocking back and forth. Evening had fallen, and he had spent the afternoon being examined in the doctor's office. It was the first time he had seen a doctor since he had left Knothole, and the diagnosis was not good.

Sonic sat in a dusty chair beside the hammock, elbows on knees. He stared at the floor, thinking,  
and Spark waited. It was like being in trouble as a small child, awaiting the judgement of a parent. Spark knew that he was sick, but the extent of it shocked him.

"Well, Sonic," he said, breaking the silence, "I guess when I kick, I'll leave you my dagger." He drew it from its sheath at his hip and fingered the blade lovingly.

Sonic lifted his head and gazed at the green hedgehog. "Is that why you came back, Spark?  
Because you're dying?"

"Yeah," said Spark, eyes on the dagger. "I wanted treatment. I kind of figured it had something to do with the mega muck, though."

Sonic nodded. When Spark was very young, Robotnik had taken him and pumped him full of the noxious chemical, altering Spark's genetic structure. It had granted him his electrical power, but cursed him with recurring illness which sometimes manifested as a brain fever. Spark effectively lost his mind during these fevers.

"But they can't treat it," said Sonic. "Radiation would make it worse, and more drugs won't fix the ones already in you."

Spark nodded. His calm was uncanny, Sonic thought. Wasn't Spark afraid of dying? How could he be so casual about all this?

"Traditional treatment won't work," said Spark, stepping out of his hammock. He picked up his duffelbag from the corner and unzipped it. He pulled out a glowing white gem and held it up.  
"You're a Chaos Wizard, Sonic. Isn't healing one of their powers?"

Sonic looked at the Chaos Emerald with wide eyes, and jumped to his feet. "Whoa, hold it.  
Chaos Wizard?"

"Yeah, Chaos Wizard," said Spark, returning to the hammock with the gem in one hand and his dagger in the other. "I read up on people who can use Chaos Emeralds. Three or more powers,  
and people called them Wizards."

Sonic grinned for the first time since he had heard that Spark was dying. "So that must make Knuckles the Wizard Guru or something. And Shadow's a wizard, too."

"Shadow?" said Spark. "Who's that?"

Sonic's grin faded. "Wow, you don't even know about Shadow?"

"I've been out of the loop for quite a while, Sonic," said Spark, ears flattening.

Sonic nodded. "Yeah. Anyway, uh, Spark, I can't do Chaos Healing. None of us can."

Spark looked at Sonic, and slowly a gray tinge crept into his face. "You ... can't? What can you do, then?"

Sonic checked them off on his fingers. "Chaos Control--that's stopping time--Chaos Relocate--that's teleporting--Chaos Sight--seeing the future and stuff--and Chaos Wind, which is like an instant tornado."

Spark lay down in the hammock with one leg out, pushing off the wall to swing back and forth.  
Sonic watched him. "Sorry, bro. The only one we've ever seen do healing is a chao."

Spark turned his head to gaze at him. "A chao? Where is it?"

"Well ... last time he healed someone, I had to kidnap him from the chao gardens," said Sonic with a wry grin. "I've been threatened with prosecution if I try it again. We could try getting him out for a vacation, I guess. You remember Max?"

Spark frowned, thinking. "Talon's chao?"

"Yeah, him."

There was a moment of silence. Spark said, "Who'd he heal?"

"Zephyer. She got deroboticized and almost died."

"Whoa." Spark sat up straight, looking amazed. "Zephyer's deroboticized? I thought that was impossible because of her metal!"

"Nope," said Sonic. "Knuckles figured out a way. They're married now."

Spark blinked and looked as if Sonic had just told him that the sky was green. "Okay, that one's hard to swallow. I didn't even know that they liked each other."

"Apparently so," said Sonic with a shrug. "I'll talk to Knux about getting Max out of the chao garden in Sapphire City, so you'll get to see him and Zeff. Knux might know more about Chaos Healing now, actually. I tell you, Spark, if there were Chaos Nerds, he'd be one."

"Yeah ... like, wearing glasses and a pocket protector, studying an emerald," said Spark, and the two collapsed in gales of laughter.

When they had calmed down, Sonic said, "Serena's taking natural medicine classes. She wants to treat you with weird diets and things."

"It'd be worth a shot, I guess," said Spark, holding up the glowing gem and watching it cast flecks of light on the wall. "I mean, it won't kill me any faster. And once the chao gets here, what if he can't heal me anyway?"

"Oh, he can," said Sonic. "That's one of the green emerald's powers. You didn't need the white one, although it's nice to have."

"That's why you're the Chaos Wizard and I'm not," said Spark. "All I know is that Chaos Emeralds glow and turn you into a supercharged being when you have all seven."

"The white emerald's main power is deception," said Sonic. "Tell any lies lately?"

A faint tinge of pink rose into Spark's cheeks. "No," he said without looking at Sonic. After a moment he reached up with his metal hand and pulled off his silver headband. He held it out to his brother. "Do you think this might be hurting me?"

Sonic took the headband, looked at it for a split second, then flung it away from him.

Spark sat up, irritated. "Hey, be careful with that!"

"That's a piece of the Eighth Chaos Emerald," hissed Sonic. He stood with his back arched and spines bristling, as if the headband was a venomous snake. "I haven't touched the thing since .  
that one time ... Spark, you shouldn't wear that. No wonder you're sick!"

Spark picked up the headband and fastened it around his forehead again. "I've had it for years and it never hurt me," he growled. "Without it I can't use electricity."

"Maybe you should go without it for a while," said Sonic, failing to hide the edge in his voice.  
"It's dangerous, especially so close to your brain."

Spark fixed him with an annoyed stare and said nothing.

Sonic pointed at him. "You're dying, Spark! And you're not gonna get better with that thing dumping corruption into you!"

"It's mine," said Spark flatly.

The brothers glared at each other for several seconds. Then Sonic whirled and left, slamming the door behind him.

Spark gazed at the closed door for a long time. Then he slowly reached up and unfastened his headband. He laid it on the floor, the climbed into his hammock again, curled up and went to sleep.

* * *

Sonic found Sally and went on a tirade about Spark and his choices in apparel. They sat in a corner of the community hut, by the fireplace, and Sonic recounted their conversation in a low passionate voice. Sally listened, wide-eyed, nodding. 

When Sonic finished, Sally was silent for a while, gazing into the fire. After a moment she said,  
"He's had the Eighth Emerald for how long?"

"Years," said Sonic. "Ever since I first met him. I think he got it when he was working for Robotnik. And it's only a fragment, not the Eighth itself. He'd be stark raving mad in that case."  
His voice was bitter.

Sally vividly remembered what had happened when Sonic had come into contact with the Eighth Emerald ... seeing Slasher turn tail and flee before Sonic's crazed rampage. Sonic's green eyes were yellow in the firelight, recalling the voices in his head and his months of torment. He gazed into the fire instead of at Sally, blaming himself. Somehow, someway, Spark's illness was his fault.

Sally read it in his face. She slid her chair closer to his and clasped his hands. "He chose to wear that stone," she said softly. "He chose his lifestyle. It's not your responsibility."

Sonic looked at her for a moment, then dropped his eyes to the fire again. "I know. I just think, if only I'd taken that headband from him when he told me what it was. If only I'd made him get treatment for that poison ..."

"You can't make him do anything," said Sally, a smile dimpling her cheek. "He'd tell you to take a flying leap. I do recall you trying to make him see a doctor, and he pulled his knife on you."

Sonic grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess he did. But still--"

The community hut's door opened, and Sonic and Sally looked up. Zephyer stepped in, closed the door behind her, and saw them sitting with clasped hands and heads together. She froze. "Um, is now a good time?"

Sonic and Sally immediately parted and sat up. "Sure," said Sonic. "What's up, Zeff?"

Zephyer was an echidna, which was remarkable given their rarity, and Knuckles's wife, which was even more remarkable, for she had been roboticized until a year ago. She was dressed in heavy pants and a down jacket, with a cloak draped around her for added protection from the cold.

"Going to the north pole?" said Sonic as Zephyer pulled up a chair.

She pulled off her cloak and sat down. "No," she snapped. "You know I hate the cold." She was wearing gloves, too. She pulled her long red dreadlocks out of her face, and folded her cloak over one arm. "Um." She looked from Sonic to Sally and back. "Sonic, I need to ask you something."

"Okay, shoot," said Sonic, folding his hands.

Zephyer looked at Sally, almost fearfully. "It's about the future."

Sonic froze and stared. He had been expecting this conversation for a long time, but all the same it unnerved him. He swallowed and said, "Don't worry, I told Sally about Nash."

"And Jason?" said Zephyer.

Sally watched both of them. Sonic and Zephyer were talking secrets, for their eyes communicated more than their words. Sonic shook his head slightly and motioned to Sally with his head.  
Zephyer nodded.

"Should I leave?" said Sally, feeling an unaccountable surge of jealousy. She knew that Sonic and Zephyer had been to the future, and they returned with an oath to never talk about what they had seen. But something had happened to make Zephyer break the vow of silence. Sally could see it in the way that Zephyer was winding her cloak around her arm and fist without meaning to.  
For a moment Sally wondered if Sonic and Zephyer's relationship had ever gone past friendship,  
and her jealousy flamed toward Amy-esque heights.

"No, no, stay here," said Sonic. "You'll find out all this eventually, I guess. Go ahead, Zeff."

This seemed to confirm Sally's suspicions, but she folded her arms and determined to hear Zephyer out.

Zephyer's attention was fixed entirely upon Sonic. "Jason's friend Simoon--the echidna boy who had been burned. Um ..." She began winding her cloak around her other arm, and studied the fabric as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world. "He told me that his was an orphan,  
because the Floating Island crashed and killed his parents."

Sally's attitude toward Zephyer thawed at once. She also guessed where this was going. Sonic was listening intently, elbows on knees.

Zephyer went on, "Knuckles was his father. Now, at the time, Knuckles and I--I mean, I didn't even like him that much. I didn't think anything of it--that I--" She stammered to a halt.

Sonic gave Sally a sidelong look, checking to see if she was following this. Sally met his look with one of her own, yes, and she understood.

Zephyer recollected her thoughts and plunged into her question. "So, Sonic ... Simoon was my little boy, wasn't he?"

Sonic nodded, raising an eyebrow. "It took you this long to figure it out?"

"Hello, it's not something I enjoy thinking about," Zephyer snapped, glaring. "I know how you got those scars on your legs. I saw them cutting the barbed wire out of you."

Sally's head jerked around to stare at Sonic, who flinched. "Yeah, I remember that."

There was a brief silence. Zephyer played with her cloak without looking at either of them.

Sonic watched her, building up the nerve to actually ask. "Zeff ... um ... you're expecting, aren't you?"

"Yes," said Zephyer without looking up. "I cam straight here from the doctor's. Which brings me to another question." She met Sonic's eyes squarely. "How, exactly, did the island crash?"

Sonic steepled his fingers. "Jason told me that they hid the Eighth Chaos Emerald there. Simoon unlocked the box and it burned his face. It ... neutralized the Master Emerald."

Zephyer buried her face in both hands.

There was an awkward silence. Sonic and Sally gazed at Zephyer, whose breathing sounded like silent sobbing. Sonic leaned over and put a hand on her arm. "We changed that future, though,  
remember Zeff? We hid the Eighth Emerald before it was found the first time."

"But Nash is here!" wailed Zephyer, uncovering her face. Tears had left glistening paths down her cheeks. "It all still might happen, have you thought of that? Knux and I might die in ten years!"

Now Sally leaned forward, distressed to see Zephyer like this, and distressed at her possible future. First Spark, now Zephyer and Knuckles. "Zeff, the future isn't set. Since you know it, you can change it."

"That's right," said Sonic, giving Sally a grateful look. "Have you told Knuckles? He'd know how to handle this."

Zephyer sniffed and wiped her eyes. "No, I haven't told him. We promised not to tell anyone about the future, remember?"

"Yeah," said Sonic. "But I think it's time to start talking about it."

There was a moment of silence as Zephyer pulled herself together and unwound her cloak from her left arm. She shook it out and stood to put it on. "I need to go. I should have told Knux all this first ... after all, Simoon's as much his as mine." She smiled, a sudden, dazzling smile that Sonic and Sally had never seen before. "I'm gonna be a mommy!" She flung her cloak around her shoulders and nearly ran out of the hut, headed for the teleporter that would take her home.

Sonic looked at Sally. "Suddenly my problems don't seem so bad."

Sally gazed at the door. "Mm hm." Slowly she turned to Sonic. "Who is Jason, might I ask?"

Sonic looked at her, chewing his lip and thinking. "I'll bet you know."

Sally tilted her head to one side. "Is he a hedgehog?"

"Hybrid," said Sonic, flushing and staring at the floor.

Sally rocked back in her chair and laughed. She knew. No wonder Sonic was so reticent about the whole future thing!

He watched her and chuckled. "I hope Knux takes your view of all this."

* * *

The Floating Island wintered at Mobius's equator, where it was warm and wet. Most of the island's water was collected at monsoon season, and Zephyer arrived back in a deluge of rain that blinded her. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head, and slogged up the muddy path to the house. It was a relief to step onto the porch, out of the rain, and pull off her soaked cloak. She left her muddy shoes outside the door and went in. 

The rain made a steady, cozy drumming on the roof, and the house's arm, familiar smell greeted her: woodsmoke, wood floors, and a hint of the tropical flowers in a vase on the kitchen table.  
She heard the voices of Talon and the chao in Talon's room, playing a game of some sort.

As she pulled off her jacket, Knuckles poked his head out of the kitchen. "There you are, Zeff! I was about to send out a search party."

"It's okay, I made it," said Zephyer, hanging up her jacket on a peg beside the door.

Knuckles walked up and hugged her, and kissed her cold lips. "You're like ice," he remarked,  
pulling back and looking at her in concern. "What'd the doctor say? Are you sick?" He led her into the kitchen.

Zephyer hid a smile. "Not sick, no ..." Knuckles had wanted to accompany her to Knothole, but Zephyer had insisted that she go alone. She had suspected what was ailing her, and knew she couldn't talk to Sonic with Knuckles there. Knuckles would have resorted to violence before hearing the whole story.

The kitchen table was covered in pottery shards, arranged like a puzzle to form a tablet covered in writing. Knuckles's translation notes were scattered over the table and chairs. "Another wild night at our house," Zephyer observed.

"Yeah," said Knuckles, clearing off a chair for Zephyer, and sitting down. "If our friends knew the kind of life we lead, they'd be here all the time. Or not." He smiled.

Zephyer sat down beside him. "Translating the ancients for the benefit of the future generation, I see."

"Yep." Knuckles lifted a sheet of paper, glanced at it, and let it fall. "So what'd the doctor say"  
Her hint had gone over his head.

She smiled. "I'm perfectly normal."

He frowned. "But you've been throwing up! How can that be normal?"

Zephyer was delighted with her secret. He really had no clue, gazing at her, full of concern. She paused a moment, then said, "Knux ... I'm pregnant."

Knuckles's jaw dropped. He stared at her for nearly a full minute, speechless. "You are?" he whispered.

Zephyer nodded, beaming.

Knuckles looked as if she had socked him in the stomach. He glanced around the kitchen, as if making sure that the world had not really just turned inside out, and returned his gaze to her. A grin broke over his face like the rising sun. "Zeff--!" He hugged her, a smothering hug that was as gentle as it was warm.

"I can't believe it," he whispered in her ear, "Although on second thought, I don't know why I didn't see this coming. I should have gone with you!" He reluctantly released her, but held her hands.

"It's okay," said Zephyer. "I needed to talk to Sonic, anyway."

Knuckles's face darkened to a scowl. "What's Sonic have to do with it?"

Zephyer hadn't realized how such a statement would sound, and she giggled, rocking back and forth. "No, no, I didn't mean that!" She gazed into her husband's searching eyes. "You remember when two strangers showed up and gave you and Sonic the Eighth Chaos Emerald?"

Knuckles nodded.

Zephyer went on, "They were from the future, and Sonic and I went there. I had to ask Sonic to fill in some blanks for me. Now I can tell you the whole story."

"Go for it," said Knuckles flatly.

It took her upwards of an hour. Knuckles interrupted her once in a while with a question, and his dark expression slowly lightened. When she finished, he sat gazing at the window, thinking. She waited nervously, hanging on his next words.

After a while he looked at her and said, "So the Eighth Emerald made the island crash. But now the Eighth Emerald has been moved out of history, so it can't be found by our son."

She nodded. That made sense, and she felt a swell of relief.

Knuckles squinted at the table, still thinking. He went on, "My future self must have been crazy to accept protection of the Eighth Emerald. But then, I wouldn't have known what it could do.  
None of us did until those kids came back to our time and dumped the emerald on us. So the timeline was already being affected. I know things now that I must not have known in the alternate future. So that future can't come true now, because we know how to prevent it."

He turned to Zephyer, who was gazing at him with shining eyes. "I'm glad you told me all this."

"You're so level-headed," she said, realizing that her eyes were full of tears. She wiped them away. "I've been chasing this in circles ever since I first wondered if I was pregnant."

Knuckles nodded and smirked. "What kind of name is 'Simoon', anyway?"

"Echidna tradition from my tribe," said Zephyer. "The firstborn is always named for the wind.  
That's how I got my name--a zephyr is a small spring breeze. A simoon is a harsh east wind in the desert."

Knuckles pondered this. "Not bad. I like that. Simoon. Okay. What was he like?"

Zephyer thought. "He struck me as being really smart, but not as aggressive as his father."

Knuckles chuckled. "I suppose we'll just have to see how he turns out. Looks like Talon will have a little brother."

"I don't think the chao will be thrilled," said Zephyer. "They'll have a competitor."

"Chimera is the one who worries me," muttered Knuckles. "When the baby comes, some attitudes will have to change."


	4. Chapter 4: Problems

Chapter 4 - Problems

* * *

Sonic, Sally and Tails met for breakfast in the cafeteria hut the next morning.

This was a leftover habit from the Freedom Fighter years, when their little band took meals together to stay in touch and plan missions. Sonic and Sally ate a peculiar blend of granola, heavy on the nuts, while Tails made himself a tuna sandwich.

"For breakfast?" said Sonic, wrinkling his nose.

Tails shrugged, chewing. "Why not?"

The outer door opened, and Spark entered, followed by Slasher. Spark walked to the rear counter out of habit, and Slasher had to show him the new pantry in the rear. Spark smiled sheepishly and stood gazing into the pantry, searching for something to eat. Slasher poured herself a glass of water and ate nothing, and walked out to sit beside Sonic, Tails and Sally's table. She was so large that even sitting on her haunches, her head and shoulders were level with everyone else's.

She bared her teeth in a smile. "Tuna for breakfast, Tails?"

He grinned. "Everybody finds that weird. How come you're not eating?"

"Taking me a while to digest my last meal," said Slasher. "Carnivore metabolism, you know. You guys doing okay?"

Sally nodded. Sonic said, "Can't complain." He watched Spark, observing the way his brother's once swift motions had slowed down.

The group followed his gaze. Sally murmured, "He doesn't act very sick ... just tired."

"Spark never gets tired," Sonic muttered. "Not like that."

Spark had leaned against the pantry's doorframe, his body weaving with each breath as if he had run ten miles.

"He's not wearing his headband," Tails pointed out. "Maybe he listened to you, Sonic."

"That's a first," said Sonic, taking a bite of granola.

Serena appeared in the kitchen, having entered through the back door. She pounced on Spark with a hug, her violet spines making a contrast against Spark's green and black ones. She dragged him into the pantry, and they emerged moments later with packages and dried herbs that Serena had cured herself as homework assignments. Spark looked sheepish as she bossed him around, preparing an odd mix of fruits and vegetables for his breakfast.

The group out at the table was distracted, however. They had been so busy watching Spark and Serena that nobody noticed Amy until she was sitting beside Tails. "Hi Tails!" she said brightly, her shrill voice making them all jump. "Nice day today, isn't it? Want to go shopping with me today?" She completely ignored Sonic, Sally and Slasher.

She had pulled up her chair so close to Tails's that she was almost sitting in his lap, and he inched his chair away from her. "Uh--I don't know, Amy, I have a bunch of work to do--" Tails looked to Sonic for help. Sonic merely watched, a hint of laughter brewing in his eyes.

Amy frowned. "It's not like a date, you know. It's just to go somewhere. You stay in your workshop too much, and you treat that plane like it's your girlfriend."

Tails knew that he preferred the Tornado's company to Amy's. He wondered how long she could continue to ignore Sonic, Sally and Slasher. Slasher and Sally were trying to pretend that this situation was not awkward, but Sonic was openly staring.

Tails waffled. "Well, Amy, I am really busy, I mean, no offense or anything, but shopping isn't really ..."

"They just opened that new hardware store in New Mobitropolis," said Amy, smiling. "I'll go with you there if you come with me to Jessica's."

Jessica's was a trendy clothing store, and Tails would rather be dragged through the street and hanged. "Um, that sounds nice, but--"

"Ah, go with her, Tails," said Sonic. His eyes were dancing with barely-contained mirth. "What the Tornado doesn't know won't hurt it, huh?"

Tails gawped at Sonic, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly--Sonic was siding with Amy?

Amy pretended not to hear Sonic, but grabbed Tails around the neck and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Oh Tails, I knew you'd go with me! You're so nice! I'm gonna go get my purse." She dashed out of the hut, leaving Tails looking as if he had faced down a steamroller and lost.

"Assertive, isn't she?" said Slasher softly.

Tails glared at Sonic. "Why'd you tell me to go? Now I have to!"

"No you don't," said Sonic, eyes shining with that crazy light. "Run for it while her back's turned. I'll tell her that you're meeting her in town." He motioned to the rafters overhead.

In two seconds flat the fox spun his tails and shot up into the rafters, where he flattened himself behind a stud bigger around than his whole body. He began to pant, because he could not sweat, and tried to keep quiet as Amy returned.

"Where's Tails?" he heard her ask.

Sonic said, "Oh, he said he'd meet you at the hardware store. He was so excited that he left early."

There was a long silence. Amy said suspiciously, "Is that the truth, Sonic?"

"Oh yeah," said Sonic. "He couldn't wait to get out of here."

Tails scrunched himself closer to the beam and hugged his tails to his chest. He knew that Amy was taking a good look around the hut. "All right," she said slowly. "But if he doesn't show up, Sonic, I'll know you had something to do with it. He really does like me, you know."

Tails didn't inhale until the door had closed behind her, and he saw Amy trotting away. He peered down at the table and saw them all looking up at him. Sonic beckoned to him, grinning.  
Tails parachuted down and sat in his chair again, watching the windows for a glimpse of Amy. "Sonic, she's gonna be really mad ..."

"So?" said Sonic. "I'm not afraid of her, and you shouldn't be, either. After all, 'you really do like her, you know'." He imitated Amy's voice, and Tails smirked.

Sally frowned. "Sonic, you shouldn't provoke her like that. She'll make Tails pay now."

Tails looked desperately at Slasher. "What should I do?"

Slasher rolled her eyes. "What you should have done in the first place. Tell her you don't want to go out with her, that you're not interested."

"That's not that easy," said Tails wildly, imagining the look in Amy's eyes when she came for him. "I gotta get outta here before she comes back." He bolted for the back door in the kitchen.

Sonic grinned after him, but Sally clicked her tongue. "Sonic, really ..."

"What?" said Sonic innocently. "Just helping the kid out, is all."

Serena and Spark emerged from the kitchen, where they had watched everything. Spark was carrying a plate of something that smelled like baked apples, but looked like unappetizing brown slop. He sat in Tails's chair, and Serena moved Amy's two feet to the right before sitting down.

"I forgot about the drama that goes on around here," grinned Spark. "Boy, is it good to be home."

"Sonic, you're making Amy worse," said Serena, glaring at her brother. "She wants you to take her seriously, and you're obviously not. She's going to escalate until you do."

"Amy needs to grow up," said Sonic.

Serena turned to Spark. "Fry him for me, will you?"

"Can't," said Spark with his mouth full. "No headband."

Serena huffed a sigh and got up from the table. She crossed the room to where a purple porcupine had just arrived with a plate, and sat with him. The group watched this, and Sonic and Spark exchanged glances.

"Hey Sonic," said Spark, "you forget to tell me something about Serena?"

"There's nothing to tell," said Sonic, but his eyes narrowed.

Spike was a nice-looking porcupine with two feet of quills and a white patch of fur on his chest. His hairdo would have been a mohawk had it not covered his entire head in tall rows of spikes. Unlike the hedgehogs, he had a bushy quilled tail that made sneaking up behind him a dangerous exercise. He and Sonic had gone from fierce rivals to uneasy friends over the course of time, but it looked as if the rival stage was due for an encore. Sonic liked Spike well enough, but not well enough to let him date Sonic's sister. Spark shared the same sentiment, as both brothers watched their little sister with dark eyes and clenched jaws.

"Really, you guys are impossible," said Sally with a half-laugh. "You think Tails and Amy is funny, and Serena and Spike isn't"  
"Tails and Amy won't work out," growled Spark. "That's the difference."

"She's just eating with him," Sally pointed out. "That's not serious."

"It might be," said Sonic. "Spark, you'd better live long enough to help me break them up."

Spark started to agree, but hesitated. "What if Serena's treatments work, then she gets mad and stops?"

"That's a risk we'll have to take," said Sonic. He looked at Slasher. "Don't tell her."

Slasher was unhappy with the entire situation, and was preening a wing with her teeth. She looked up and said, "I don't keep despicable secrets like this one. If she asks, I'll tell her."

Sonic muttered under his breath and rose from the table. "I gotta go to work. Bye, everybody." He kissed Sally and left, throwing dark glances at Serena and Spike across the room.

* * *

Puddles stood along the Sapphire City roads, and the streets had a gleaming, freshly-washed look. A tall, silver-furred dog stood on the sidewalk, holding his blue robe around him for warmth. Chill and damp had never bothered him before, but he was amused to see that his breath steamed.

Drasyre had spent the night in Vector's office, stretched out on a visitor's couch. Vector stayed out all night, and reappeared at dawn, looking grimy and tired. He escorted Drasyre to a coffee shop, and explained that the Chaotix Detective Agency was trying to open a branch in Sapphire City. The trouble was that Vector was also working on a case to follow some guy's wife all night, and had spent nine hours parked beneath her apartment, during which nothing happened.

"Your case is easier, though," said the crocodile, leading his companion off the cold street and into the warm, coffee-scented shop. He ordered two double espressos, and handed one to Drasyre.

Drasyre sipped it gingerly and said, "How so?"

"Your thief was dumb enough to take the train," said Vector, pouring his entire cup into his mouth and smacking his jaws a few times. "All the police have to do is match his description to the passenger list. We'll check the station next."

Drasyre licked his lips. "Would it be possible to leave now?"

"Sure." Vector led the way out of the shop and down the sidewalk. Drasyre followed him, matching the crocodile's long strides and careful to avoid the thick tail.

"So," said Vector as they walked, "this thief stole a diamond from you. Must be a pretty expensive diamond."

"It is one of seven," said Drasyre. "It is actually an oddly-colored emerald."

Vector gave him a long look. "A Chaos Emerald?"

"Yes." Drasyre didn't want to mention the name for fear that Vector might try to take it, himself.

Vector only frowned. "A Chaos Emerald. Hmm." He said nothing else for two blocks.

Vector was a detective, which meant that he made a living by solving puzzles. The pieces of his puzzle concerned him. A Chaos Emerald? A hedgehog thief who had used Chaos Control to escape? There were few people on Mobius who could teleport the way that Sonic could. It was one of his signature moves. What if Sonic was complicit in the theft? Vector didn't want to drag a friend to trial over this, but he had volunteered to help this strange dog, and he was committed now.

Vector's face grew even longer at the police station. The police detectives had matched Drasyre's description to the passenger list of the 2 o' clock train. The thief was named Spark Hedgehog.

"Spark," said Drasyre, running the name through his teeth. "Not his real name, surely?"

"Probably a nickname," said Vector, whose green scales were a tad greener. "Hold on Drasyre, I need to make a phone call."

The crocodile secreted himself in the police station's bathroom, and dialed the Chaotix's number on his cellphone. Espio answered. "Yo Vec, what's up?"

"Espio, I have a problem up here," said Vector in a low voice. "Remember Sonic's brother Spark?"

"Yeah. What's wrong, he turn up dead?"

"No, worse. He stole a Chaos Emerald from this really irate guy, who hired me to track down the thief."

Espio laughed. "You're kidding me! Spark's been missing for years, and he turns up and pulls this?"

"Yeah." Vector rubbed his forehead, where a pain was developing between his eyes. "Espio, what do I do?"

Espio was silent a long moment, thinking. "Stall him. Say ... say they've traced Spark as far as Riverbase, and take at least a week to get him there. I'll see if we can get a call through to Sally and find out what's up. Maybe Spark will return it, who knows?"

"Sounds like a plan," said Vector. He and Espio discussed handing Vector's current case to one of their partners in the police force, then hung up. How did he get himself into these messes?

He walked back into the police office and forced a grin. Drasyre was looking at police sketches, trying to put together an accurate image of Spark.

"Good news," said Vector, as the dog and police officer looked up. "My partners say that Spark's hiding out up north in Riverbase. They grant amnesty to Robians. It'd be the perfect place for him to hide with that mechanical arm of his."

"Excellent." Drasyre straightened up. "When do we depart?"

Vector checked his watch. "Around noon, I think. I have to contact another detective to cover my case while I help you. Then we'll catch a taxi up there. No trains go that far north."

Drasyre nodded, and for a second there was a red smouldering glint in his eyes.

* * *

As Vector and Drasyre emerged from the police station and strode down the street, a black hedgehog gazed at them from the window of a neighboring apartment. Shadow recognized Vector, and stood with hands clasped behind his back, watching. Mekion's eye tracked the crocodile and his companion, judged them no threat, and fixed on the horizon. Shadow's natural eye continued to follow them, and when his binocular vision split, he blinked and rubbed the line where his flesh merged into cold metal.

"I wish you wouldn't do that, Mekion," he thought.

Mekion said nothing. He rarely spoke these days, which made Shadow nervous. Gone were the endless arguments, the bickering and whispered threats. Instead, Shadow found himself blacking out and waking up in strange places. This morning he had awakened on the apartment complex's fire escape, kneeling and peering through the railing at a passing human. If the setting was unsettling, it was even more unsettling to realize that he had interrupted whatever Mekion was doing.

Shadow and Nox were alone in Nick Karabian's apartment. Nick had gone to work, taking Mecha's debit card and promising to return with groceries. There was little food in the apartment, but this did not concern Shadow. Hunger was a passing complication, and he and Nox had eaten the night before.

Nox sat on a couch behind him, looking through a nanotech magazine, of which Nick had stacks. The room was chilly, because Nick couldn't afford to run the heat much, but Shadow didn't care.

He was thinking about the Chaotix and his own adventures in Rio del Fuego the previous summer. Danger and intrigue and freedom. He recalled grinding down a train rail toward the oncoming engine, daring Sonic to do the same. He smiled at the memory. Now that was living. Of course, Mekion had battled him every step of the way, but that was more acceptable than this silent switching back and forth between them. Shadow had no control over this new stage.

A voice whispered in his head. Shadow turned his head to the left, as if trying to look at Mekion, and thought, "What?"

Mekion said nothing.

Shadow shrugged and returned to gazing out the window. Mekion was probably infiltrating more of his subconscious or something.

Another voice, this time louder and crystal-clear. "Hmah estlven parse naugh!"

Shadow jumped. "Mekion?"

"No danger detected," Mekion replied. "Otherwise do not interfere with me."

"Mekion, what was that transmission?"

"No transmission detected."

It had not been Mekion's voice. It was a new voice: harsh, masculine, angry. Shadow stood with his head tilted, as if listening with his ears rather than with his audio network. It was speaking again, but the volume had dropped to almost nothing--he could hear a vague hissing whisper, but made out none of what it said. Not that he could understand it anyway. It wasn't speaking New Mobian or the human languages. Maybe it was code. But why wasn't Mekion tracking the transmission? Couldn't he pick it up?

But if the voice wasn't coming from Mekion ... that left only Shadow.

He stared out the window, pressing his natural hand against the sill. They said that hearing voices was a symptom of insanity. Were the voices emanating from his living brain as his synapses misfired? Had Mekion's cold dementia affected Shadow's mind, as well? He knew so little about things like insanity. For one wild instant he considered sending a transmission to Mecha--Mecha would know. He could help.

Then Shadow wondered what would happen if he made contact with Mecha, and Mekion took control. Was it possible to hurt someone through an audio network? If there was a way, then Mekion would find it. No, he couldn't call Mecha, even though the thought sent a surge of hope through his heart. Shadow missed his friend and master. As soon as he acknowledged this thought, homesickness rose and filled him with gnawing emptiness. He missed the chill darkness of the underground bunker, and Mecha's abrasive, cutting wit. He missed, too, the warm feeling when Mecha let his mask slip and showed tenderness to Aleda, and Shadow, himself. Mecha's development was continuing, and Shadow was no longer part of it.

As he stood at the window, gazing out with his mismatched eyes and feeling sorry for himself, he heard a patter of footsteps and felt Nox's cold paw on his leg. "Shadow?" said the chao, looking up at him. "What's the matter?"

Shadow stooped and picked up Nox, feeling a rasping pain in the back of his throat as he moved. "Nox, I'm hearing voices." Forcing his vocal chords to work was so painful that he had to rub his throat, wincing.

Nox gazed at him soberly. The chao's eyes were dark blue with white pupils, making him look blind and otherworldly, as if he could see things hidden to other eyes. But for their weird coloring, they were bright enough, and scrutinized Shadow's face. "Hearing voices?" said Nox. He reached up and touched the metal half of Shadow's face, then the living half. "Mekion is just cold, like usual," said Nox. "And you ..." He gazed into Shadow's face for a long time. "You're afraid. And lonely. And ... I don't know how to describe it ... you're hurting somehow ... because something's gone?"

"Homesick," whispered Shadow, and coughed, turning his head away.

Nox nodded in comprehension. "Oh. You want to go home. So do I." He hung his head.

Shadow cleared his throat and forced his aching voice to whisper, "What about voices?"

"I only feel your feelings," said Nox. "I can't hear thoughts."

"But nothing ... different?" Shadow's voice caught, and he coughed again.

Nox tolerated this, and when Shadow had recovered the chao said, "No. I only feel the feelings from you and Mekion. There's nobody else there."

This was a relief, but even as he stood there, Shadow heard them again; a low muttering in a corner of his mind. It was like hearing two overlapping radio stations, an unintelligible noise. He looked at Nox, but the chao was looking out the window, oblivious. Schizophrenia didn't affect a sympath, it seemed.

Shadow sighed and rubbed Nox's head. If only his throat didn't hurt so much ...


	5. Chapter 5: The breakup

Chapter 5 - The breakup

* * *

Tails was in his workshop with the door locked, sticking sensors to a large glass sphere and checking the readings on his computer. Lots of random vibration, but no harmony.

A thrall sphere was a chaos-powered crystal that could hypnotize the unwary, and at the same time allow the user to hear anything anywhere on Mobius. Tails could control it by hand, and had the idea to use a computer to fine-tune the sphere's frequencies.

His concentration was shattered by a knock on the door. Amy! He ducked behind the Tornado and cautiously peered through its windscreen. It was silent a moment, then the visitor knocked again. "Tails?" said a low, male voice. "I need your help, if you're in there."

Tails got up, relieved, and hurried to the door. He unlocked it and said, "Come in, quick, I don't want anybody to know that I'm here."

His visitor, a purple porcupine, whisked inside and watched as Tails re-locked the door. "Avoiding Amy, I take it?"

"You might say that," said Tails, feeling himself blush under his fur. He turned to Spike, who was holding a cracked metal tube.

Spike held it out. "I'm trying to fix a hovercar, but look at this energy conductor. I've never seen one crack before."

Tails took it and examined it closely. The clear crystalline fibers inside were exposed and tangled. "Wow, what'd they do, try to break the sound barrier?"

"They wouldn't say," said Spike, folding his arms and looking cross. "You should see the rest of the engine. I think I can repair everything, except this conductor. Can you?"

"Maybe," said Tails, carrying it to his workbench.

Spike was a mechanic like Tails, but his area of expertise was cars: hover cars, ground-cars, Mobian cars, human cars, any car. He had a souped-up hoverbike that he had rebuilt many times over the years, and everyone knew that this was because Serena loved riding it with him. Tails and Spike had an easy-going friendship because of their shared interest, and consulted each other on tough mechanical problems, like this one.

Spike hovered over Tails's shoulder as the fox clamped the conductor in a vise and flicked on a bright overhead light.

"Excuse me," said a synthesized voice behind them.

Spike and Tails looked around at the Tornado, sitting on its blocks with its legs folded. It had two black glass-paneled eyes, one on either side of the nose, and the pupils were blue lights. These were focused on the Mobians.

"What, Tornado?" said Tails.

"Pardon me for interrupting," said the Tornado, "but my scanners detect Amy Rose moving in this direction. You are avoiding her. Solution: I notified you of her approach."

"Thanks, Tornado," said Tails, ducking behind the workbench.

Spike crouched down with him, grinning. "Good thing it's on your side, huh?"

"You have no idea," said Tails. "Good grief, why won't she leave me alone?"

There came a knock at the door. A pause, then another. Amy yelled, "Tails, you have to come out sometime, and when you do, you are in SO much trouble!"

Tails crouched a little lower, ears flattening. Spike laughed silently, hand over his mouth.

After a moment the Tornado said, "Amy Rose is departing, Tails."

"Thanks," said Tails, cautiously standing up. "Man, what am I gonna do?"

"These hedgehog girls," said Spike, grinning. "Can't live with 'em and can't live without 'em. Find somebody else and tell Amy you're taken."

"Yeah right, like who?" said Tails, poking at the energy converter with a probe. "Serena's taken." He glanced at Spike.

The porcupine's eyes darted from side to side. "Who told?"

Tails shrugged. There was an awkward silence, then Spike said, "Well, don't go spreading it around. Sonic'll kill me."

Tails looked up with a grin. "Sonic can get engaged, but his sister can't even date. Kinda funny, isn't it?"

Spike smirked. "Yeah. And look. The sooner you tell off Amy, the better off you'll both be."

Tails gulped. "Yeah. The way it's going, I'm gonna have to."

* * *

On the other side of the village, a green hedgehog sat on the floor of his hut with a white gem in his lap. He stared into it, watching the burning white light in its heart. The inner facets were smokey, as if this emerald had tarnished from the inside out, lending this Chaos Emerald its grayish coloring. Spark could feel its power. Feel it, but not use it. It frustrated him, because Sonic had told him that if you could feel the power in an emerald, then you could use it. Spark had never had his chaos aura tested, but figured that he had a strong one or he wouldn't have his electrical powers.

He gazed into the emerald hungrily. Locked somewhere inside this gem was the power to heal. It wasn't native to this emerald, but Sonic said that he could reach all the powers through one emerald if he concentrated hard enough. Spark wanted healing for the poison in his veins. He had carried its taint from childhood, but now it was getting worse.

Who was he kidding? He had always known that his electric power would be his own downfall. Electricity was the catalyst for the mutegen inside of him. Every time he built a charge, more black spots appeared in his green fur. Sometimes he could feel the old fever at the base of his skull, and had to lie down before the world turned into a carnival funhouse of colors and sounds. Insanity was a bitter word. He wanted freedom from the sickness, and this emerald could give it to him, if only he knew how.

Spark held it up to his eyes and gazed into its glowing heart, unblinking. It was beautiful, tarnished as it was. If only he could touch that light ... direct it, control it, make it purify his cells ... He relaxed under the influence of that glow, tried to open himself to its power ...

He wasn't sure how it happened. One minute he was gazing, mesmerized, into the Chaos Emerald; the next he was staring into a pair of angry blue eyes, bigger than his own, with cat-like pupil slits.

Spark dropped the emerald and cringed away from it, heart hammering against his ribcage. He knew those eyes and why they were angry. He sat panting in fear, looking at the emerald that lay on the floor, twinkling innocently. Should he tell someone? No, he'd have to admit that he had stolen the Chaos Emerald, and who from. But how had he seen the eyes? Was he projecting his own guilt onto the emerald somehow? Or was one of his crazy spells setting in and he hadn't noticed? He touched his own forehead, but there was no fever.

Whatever had happened, Spark was unnerved. He got up and left his hut, leaving the gem in the middle of the floor.

* * *

Knuckles's communicator chirped around noon. The echidna thought he heard it, and paused in his digging, rocks and gravel rolling out of the rut in the wall. The com chirped again. He brushed off his hands, pulled off his shovel claws and unhooked the com from his workbelt. "Yeah?" he said into the speaker.

"Yo, Knux, it's Sonic," said the hedgehog's voice. "You got a minute?"

"I do now," said Knuckles, eyeing the rock wall. One of the main passages in Lava Reef had caved in, and he was digging a new tunnel. He had been hoping that Zephyer might call, and thus hearing Sonic's voice was a disappointment.

"Good," said Sonic, oblivious. "Did Zeff tell you that Spark is home?"

"No, she didn't," said Knuckles, surprised despite himself. "He just showed up again?"

"Yeah," said Sonic, sounding odd. "He's ... his whole poisoned thing is worse now. He's got ... a couple of months left."

Knuckles was silent, stunned. When he didn't answer, Sonic thought that he had been too vague. "He's going to die, Knuckles. He came back because he wanted me to Chaos Heal him, and you know I can't do that."

"No," said Knuckles quietly. "Max can. He's the only one."

"That's what I told him. Do you think you could take Talon down and get Max out for a few days?"

Knuckles thought about it. He was busy with this tunnel, and Zephyer was continuing Talon's education at home. Zephyer had been talking about adopting Max for Talon, as it would help calm the young anteater, but with a baby on the way, any chao adoption had been put on hold. A visit wouldn't hurt, though ... Talon had been working hard and completed several of his books already. He could use a little rest and relaxation ... not to mention that Spark's life was on the line ...

Knuckles recalled the green hedgehog's somber eyes, quiet cunning, and quick fingers as he toyed with his dagger. Then he thought of the time that Spark had rescued Sonic from being roboticized nearly at the cost of his own life. Spark was a good guy.

"Sure, Sonic," said Knuckles. "I'll talk to Zephyer about it tonight."

"Thanks Knux," said Sonic. "You take care of Zephyer, okay?"

"She hasn't complained yet," said Knuckles, and disconnected. He stood looking at the com in his hand for a long moment. Another of these life-and-death situations. Life was never simple anymore.

* * *

That afternoon, as Serena was walking home from school, the wind picked up and drove leaves in scurrying crowds across the road. She shivered and hugged her coat closer around her body. Overhead, through the bare branches of the forest, she saw great white cloud masses sailing through the blue sky. The weather was changing.

As the violet hedgehog stood gazing upward, she saw a tiny winged speck riding the wind, its wings beating once in a while to keep its balance. It might have been a bird, but Serena recognized the long, serpentine tail. Slasher loved windy days. Serena waved, and thought she saw the raptor wave back.

She walked on, glancing up every so often to check Slasher's progress. The raptor was drifting south, circling like a hawk, enjoying herself and probably hunting at the same time. After a while the road turned, and the trees hid her from Serena's view.

Serena's mind wandered. She thought about Spark's illness and how other nutritional aspects might influence the infection in his body. Sick or not, he was strong physically. His body could heal itself if she could just give it the help it needed.

From there her thoughts wandered to cooking Spike's dinner tonight, and what he might like. This became a daydream about Spike, imagining him proclaiming his love for her and kissing her passionately--something that wouldn't happen in the real world, but happened quite often in daydreams.

Serena was awakened from her introspection by a hiss from nearby. She jumped and looked around. Slasher was perched on a tree branch that arched over the road, her long tail danging. She smiled down at Serena, teeth gleaming, the wind ruffling the feathers on her wings.

"Where'd you come from?" Serena called.

Slasher cocked her head. "I come from where the sun sails and the moon walks. You thinking about anything in particular?" She opened her wings and glided into the road, then turned, inviting Serena to walk with her. Serena did so, and they walked on together.

"Just thinking about Spark," said Serena, "wondering how to help him."

Slasher nodded. "He underestimates his own body. He's still alive because his body can fight the poison--it's just been doing it so long that he's weakened. Chaos energy isn't the solution for everything."

"Yeah," said Serena. "I've been telling Sonic that for years, but noooo, what do I know?" They walked in silence for a few minutes, then Serena said, "What do you think of Spike?"

Slasher cast her a quick glance. "What about him? He's a nice guy."

Serena looked down. "You know. Sonic doesn't like me running around with Spike, but I don't know why. Spike's great. We like the same stuff and everything ..." She trailed off and looked at the raptor, hoping for her approval.

Slasher's mouth twitched. "Spike and Sonic have never seen eye to eye. In my opinion Spike has become a responsible young male, but Sonic still sees him as the punk upstart he was when he came here."

"I know," said Serena, laughing a little. "Sonic hates it when I hang around with Spike. But ... you don't mind, do you?"

"No," said Slasher. "But Sonic and Spark do."

Serena froze in mid-stride. "Spark, too? But why?"

"They don't like you dating," said Slasher, grinning.

Serena considered this for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Older brothers are jerks, aren't they? I'll have to watch out for them!"

"My thoughts exactly," said Slasher as Knothole came into view ahead. "I don't know how much more relationship conflict I can stand, actually. The deal with Amy and Tails is revolting enough."

"I know," said Serena, making a face. "I wish Tails would grow a spine and tell her off. It'd do Amy good for someone to tell her no for once."

Slasher nodded and said nothing for several paces. Then she said in a low, heavy voice, "You all look to me for advice in these things. I don't know anything, Serena."

Serena stopped and looked at Slasher, and the raptor halted as well, head hanging. It had never occurred to Serena that Slasher might be lonely for a male of her own species. Slasher had always been Slasher--the odd, feral-looking dinosaur with wings. For the first time in years, Serena really looked at Slasher. The green eyes, sharp teeth, leathery skin, long claws ... and the implanted wings that clashed with the muscular reptilian body.

The velociraptor saw that her eyes lingered on her wings, and nodded. "There are males of my species on Flicky Island. But my wings make me a freak. Males won't even take the first steps of the mating dance with me. I'm too horrible to them."

"Slash ... I'm sorry," said Serena, thinking of how hard it must be to watch all your friends pairing up when you yourself were without prospects at all. "Would you rather I don't talk to you about it?"

"No, no," said Slasher, swinging her head from side to side. "I've learned to deal with it. I do enjoy the intrigue going on. I just have no experience in these matters upon which to draw."

Serena patted Slasher's shoulder. "Your advice has been good so far."

Slasher snorted. "Look at all the good it's done. It'd be easier if I could eat Amy and be done with it."

Serena laughed. "Now that's the easy solution." They walked into the village laughing, but Serena's heart ached for her friend. She had never thought that Slasher carried such a deep grief; it was masked too well by her fierce exterior.

* * *

That evening the sun sank in a bank of red-rimmed clouds, washing the sky in violet and crimson. Sonic ran through the windy, color-saturated evening, ducking in and out of the forest as he cut between criss-crossing paths that led to the lake two miles north of Knothole. He liked the solitude of the lake sometimes when work had been hectic. His job was to move mail and supplies between Riverbase and New Mobitropolis, and today three large backorders had arrived at once. Sonic had been lifting, running and teleporting for eight solid hours. He just wanted to sit and watch the water and the sunset. Sally would meet him there in half an hour.

The lake was a ruffled mirror of the brilliant sky, the wind cutting trails and whorls across its surface. Sonic climbed the boulder that he liked to sit on, drew his knees to his chest, and gazed out across the water. The wind gusted and buffeted his ears, but Sonic faced it unflinching. He was tired, and his mind was a comfortable blank. All he had to worry about this evening was dinner and Sally's companionship.

He was lost in thoughtless contemplation of the glowing horizon when he heard footsteps. Glancing around, Sonic saw Spark's silhouette moving along the lake shore, his spines ruffled by the wind. After a while Spark halted and stood looking across the water as Sonic was doing. Slowly he reached up and unfastened his circlet containing the Eighth Emerald fragment. He drew back his arm as if to throw it into the lake, but hesitated, weighing the circlet in his hand. Sonic straightened in alarm. One of those fragments could do serious harm in the wrong hands. One didn't just throw away a chip of the Eighth Chaos Emerald.

"Spark!" Sonic called.

Spark jumped violently and spun around, nearly falling into the water. "What? What're you--Sonic!" He slapped his headband back on as he spoke.

Sonic stood up on the boulder. "You can't get rid of it that way. Somebody will find your headband if it's in the lake."

Spark stood stock still, face flushed red. He was humiliated that Sonic had seen him trying to dispose of the emerald, and his temper rose to the surface like boiling lava. "You should stay out of other people's business!" he yelled, fists clenched. "You stinking spy!"

"I have as much right to be here as you do," Sonic retorted, his own temper flaring. "I wasn't spying on you--"

"Yeah you were," Spark bellowed. "Leave me alone, Sonic! Just stay away from me!" He turned and ran into the woods, headed back toward Knothole. Sonic jumped off the boulder to follow him with his superior speed, but checked himself. Spark might be going through one of his insanity cycles, and confronting someone who was irrational was always a bad idea. But still, calling Sonic a spy ... the unjust accusation rankled.

Sonic was still standing there when Sally approached from the opposite direction. Sonic greeted her with a warm feeling in his chest; things were okay now. They climbed up on the rock and sat side by side, watching the sunset glow fade from the sky.

Sally looked at Sonic. "Sonic ... something's wrong. You have that look."

"Oh, it's Spark," said Sonic, shaking his head. "He was out here a few minutes ago ..." He recounted Spark's actions and words. Sally listened, watching him with a puzzled expression.

When he finished, she shook her head. "Maybe his fever is acting up again. But it kind of sounds like he was trying to get rid of that emerald shard. Has he said anything about it since you told him it was dangerous?"

"No," said Sonic. "I didn't want to nag him, and the thing with Amy this morning pushed it out of my head."

Sally was silent a moment, looking out at the gleaming lake. Sonic knew that the wheels in her head were turning as she processed the problem. After a moment she looked at him. "He sure has been acting funny since he came home ... guilty, almost. I wonder if I could talk to him about it?"

"Maybe," said Sonic. "He might accuse you of spying, too."

"I've been called worse," said Sally lightly. "Let's go back to the village before the light's completely gone."

They climbed off the rock and walked back through the woods, arm in arm. The trees scraped and tossed overhead, their bare branches shivering in the chill wind. Leaves blew along in clouds and collected in drifts out of the wind.

The warm yellow lights of Knothole seemed homey and inviting as the pair stepped out of the darkness. They were walking toward the kitchen hut when a voice called, "Sonic!"

Sonic and Sally turned to see Amy and Tails hurrying toward them. Tails's teeth were clenched, and his eyes were bright and angry. Amy was smiling and triumphant. "Tails said that you stood me up. It's your fault that we didn't get to go out today."

Sonic looked at Tails and saw that the fox was an inch from throttling the pink hedgehog. Behind Amy's back, Tails looked at Sonic and shook his head--he hadn't meant to tell. Sonic nodded slightly to show that he understood.

"So," said Amy, "Tails is going to kiss me to make up."

Sonic and Sally stared at Tails, who stared at Amy. This was new to him, too.

"I'm what?" said Tails.

Amy glared at him. "You're going to kiss me because you're sorry."

There was a heavy silence. Tails was half-inclined to give in, to kiss her and get it over with. But the other half of him resisted in revulsion--this was the last straw. He was absolutely not going to kiss Amy, no matter what she did to him.

"No," he said.

Amy's eyes widened. "What?"

"No!" said Tails. "I'm not going to kiss you." Figuring that he might as well do the thing properly while he was at it, he went on, "And you know what else? I don't want to date you. I've never felt that way about you."

Amy's mouth hung open in disbelief. She looked from Tails to Sonic and back; Tails had just embarrassed her in front of Sonic! He had stood up to her bullying at the worst possible second. She felt a surge of fury and anger welling up inside of her, and let it out as a scream--a long, drawn-out scream that made all of them flinch. Then Amy bolted for home, sobbing and not caring who stopped to stare.

"Well," said Sonic as Amy faded into the distance, "who wants dinner?"

Tails looked as if a load had fallen from his shoulders. He grinned as he had not done in days. "Sounds great! I'm starved."

* * *

As Tails, Sonic and Sally walked off, happy and triumphant, Amy flung herself on her bed in her room and screamed into her pillow. It was satisfying to make so much noise, to wail and thrash and beat her fists on the bedspread. Her feelings were hurt so deeply that her chest actually ached. She hoped that she was having a heart attack, because that would show them all. Then she realized that her chest hurt because she had not drawn a breath in over a minute. She lifted her head out of her pillow and inhaled, feeling better immediately.

Slowly her tears abated, and she curled up and stared at the wall, hiccuping. Sonic had turned her down. Tails had turned her down. She almost wondered if maybe she wasn't as attractive as she saw herself ... but crushed that thought before it could form. Of course she was a wonderful person. Sonic and Tails were just selfish jerks, that was all.

She wanted to hurt them both. But how could she do that? Short of beating them with her mallet, she couldn't think of anything. Who else could she date who Sonic and Tails would totally, completely disapprove of? Someone who they would be shocked to hear about? Someone extreme and dangerous.

As Amy entertained this idea, a memory swam to the surface. A dark room lit by blue planetshine from the windows. The silhouette of a black hedgehog looking out at the planet with death in his eyes. Of course. Shadow. She remembered seeing him in the Mystic Ruins forest, then again in Rio del Fuego. He was half-roboticized, which made him even more frightening and foreboding, but Amy was not afraid of him. Strange as Shadow was, he was still a hedgehog, and Amy did not fear hedgehogs.

Sonic would never approve of Amy dating Shadow. She smiled. A slow, evil smile.

But how to find Shadow? Sonic had rescued him from Robotnik's laboratory a few weeks ago, and Shadow had disappeared again. Maybe she could use a powerful scanner. Like one of the ones Tails had ...

An image of the Tornado leaped into her mind's eye, and of seeing her own profile on its screen. Suddenly she knew how she could take revenge on Tails as well as Sonic.

Amy got up and slipped out of the hut, and ran on tiptoe across the village toward Tails's workshop. Tails was still off having dinner with Sonic and Sally, Amy thought with a pang of bitterness. This would serve him right. She didn't bother with the front door of the workshop, because Tails always locked it. She had figured out how to break in earlier, last time Tails had barricaded himself in.

She circled around to the back door, slid open the window beside it, reached in and turned the door's lock from the inside. The door swung open, and Amy stepped inside. "Hello Tornado," she said.

The Tornado's blue eyes flicked on in the darkness. "Greetings, Amy," it replied in its vaguely masculine voice. "Query. Why are you here?"

The pink hedgehog trotted up and climbed into the cockpit. The screen on the control panel displayed her profile the way she knew it would. "Tails sent me," Amy said. "Do you think that you could find Shadow?"

The screen changed to display an image of Shadow, and oddly enough, and inset screen of Metal Sonic. "Affirmative," said the Tornado. "Mecha provided me with Mekion's ID number. Scanning. Please wait."

Amy waited, shivering in the cold seat. The screen displayed a global map of Mobius, then zoomed in on one continent and city. "Sapphire City," the screen announced. A green line began tracing down the wrinkled contour of the city's area, turning up green blips, which were partial ID matches. Amy watched in fascination, wondering if the next part of her scheme would really work.

The scan uncovered a red blip in the southern half of the city. The screen zoomed in on this blip and displayed a box containing Shadow's silhouette and ID number. "Shadow's location confirmed," said the Tornado. "Query. Why do you require this information?"

"I want to see him," said Amy. "Do you think that you could fly me down there?"

The Tornado said slowly, "I am forbidden to enter mobile mode without Tails's permission. Once it is acquired, I am capable of transferring you there."

"But you do have Tails's permission!" Amy gushed, secretly ashamed that she was telling a bald lie to the trusting AI. "I asked Tails before I came. He said to tell you to take me to Shadow."

The Tornado did not reply for almost a full minute. Then it asked, "Query. Is Shadow in danger?"

"I don't think so," said Amy. "I just want to see him. Uh, I want to make sure that he's okay."

The Tornado had taken second-hand orders before, and one of these had saved Tails's life. Its permission tables were weighted in the direction of pleasing its users, but especially Tails. Nobody had ever lied to it before. The concept of untruth was foreign to its new mind. Conveying Amy to Sapphire City would cause no harm to anyone, and besides, Amy said that Tails had given his permission.

"Affirmative," said the Tornado. "Please unblock my wheels and open the main door. In addition you should attach the cockpit canopy, for flight at this hour, at this time of year, is harmful or deadly to passengers exposed to the wind."

This was beginning to look a lot more complex than Amy had anticipated, but she obeyed. She unblocked the wheels, found the plastic canopy and clamped it over the cockpit with the Tornado displaying instructions on-screen. Then she opened the outer door of the workshop, ran back and climbed into the cockpit.

The Tornado extended its legs and stood up, lifting itself off its supports. Fortunately Tails had finished tinkering with its insides and had moved on to adding new components to its computer. The Tornado wished that Tails had finished adding the thrall sphere, but that could not be helped now.

The little blue mech walked out of the workshop and strode across the village. Most of the villagers were at the kitchen hut, eating dinner, but a few people saw the Tornado and watched it curiously. It was unusual for Tails to take it out at night. Amy slid down in the seat so no one could see her. She had lied to the Tornado and was now stealing it, and her conscience was uneasy.

The Tornado made its way to the airstrip, where it transformed into a biplane. Its legs folded up into its body, and the wings unfolded and extended, locking into place where the legs had been. The blades on the tail fin folded out, and the engine intake slid open, and the propeller emerged and began to spin. The engine roared to life, and the Tornado charged down the runway. It accelerated and lifted off with calculated precision, and all Amy had to do was hold on and watch.

As the forest fell away in a dark mass below her, Amy's stomach knotted as the reality of her actions sank in. She was really going to Sapphire City to find Shadow. What about food? What if she couldn't find Shadow? How was she going to refuel the Tornado? She hadn't brought any money.

Amy, as usual, had leaped in and landed way over her head. Well, there was no turning back now. She would throw herself at Shadow, and he would take care of her.

Wouldn't he?


	6. Chapter 6: Date number 2

Chapter 6 - Date #2

* * *

Vector and Drasyre stopped at a little town called Ebony Hills for the night. It was somewhere between Sapphire City and Riverbase, along the Gold Road. It was one of those tiny Mobian settlements that had sprung up to serve as a rest stop along the highway, serviced by native Mobians who lived in the hills and woods in the area.

The biggest of the three hotels in the area was underground, and Vector and Drasyre took rooms on the top floor. Neither liked being underground, and met at an outdoor café a short walk from the hotel.

It was a cold, frosty night, too cold for sitting outside. Vector ordered a hot drink and sat sipping it, but Drasyre simple sat in a chair, gazing off at the highway, nostrils searching the wind for an elusive scent.

"So," said Vector, "when you find this thief of yours, are you going to press charges?"

"I am going to kill him and retrieve my jewel," said the dog. His tone was so matter of fact that Vector felt an uneasy wriggle in the pit of his stomach.

"Uh," said Vector, "you can't kill him. That's murder, and it's an even worse crime than theft."

Drasyre turned his head and glared at the crocodile. The yellow lights of the café bathed his white fur in gold, but the left side of his face was in shadow. With a disconcerting shiver, Vector saw that Drasyre's eyes glowed red.

"The thief deserves to die," growled the dog. "When he stole the gem he cursed me. I have lived with the stigma of that ever since."

"Hey man," said Vector, "I know some people have dirty mouths, but you gotta let it go."

Drasyre blinked at Vector a moment in confusion. Then he said, "You misunderstand me. He placed me under a physical curse. You see me before you in a different body than the one I hatched in."

Vector started to reply, realized that he had nothing to say, and took a drink instead.

Drasyre watched him. "Yes, hatched," he said. "Do you know what the native power of the silver Chaos Emerald is?"

Vector shook his head.

"Deception," said Drasyre. He sat ramrod-straight in his chair, and his eyes seemed to glow even brighter. "I sought to use its power to alter my appearance for my own purposes. I succeeded in placing myself in this body, but before I could revert, he stole the gem. And now ..." He held up his paws, fingers spread. "I am confined to this shape. I am cursed above all of my kind."

On the last word a spark flew out of the dog's mouth and went out.

Vector wanted to ask what Drasyre's original kind had been, but after seeing that spark, he knew. His mouth went dry, and he took a drink to counter it.

Drasyre turned away and stared out into the darkness, panting, dog-like. His hot breath formed clouds of mist on the cold air, and it took very little imagination to see that mist as smoke. Vector didn't know what to do. He couldn't let this non-Mobian into Knothole, where he would kill Spark and probably everyone else. If Drasyre retrieved the emerald and turned back into his real form, none of them had a hope of stopping him. Knuckles. He had to call Knuckles. Knuckles understood Chaos Emeralds--he would know what to do.

As Vector sat there, outwardly calm and inwardly panicking, Drasyre turned back to him. The glow had left his eyes, leaving them blue and dismal. "Vector," he said quietly, "I must recover my body. Every day, every hour that I remain a dog, I lose a little more of myself. I am forgetting who I am, Vector."

Vector raised an eyebrow. "I didn't realize that shapeshifting could do that to you."

Drasyre rested his head in his hands. "Neither did I. The ancient texts in my vaults spoke of Chaos-polymorph, but they did not record the long-term side effects. Part of my mass was accelerated into energy and stored within the emerald. The longer I wait, the more my body energy becomes infused with Chaos energy. I ... fear what will happen if I delay even one more week. We must find the thief and the gem. Quickly."

There was a long pause. Drasyre gazed at Vector pleadingly, and Vector gazed back in discomfort. The situation was getting worse all the time.

"Well," said Vector, "I can call up my contacts and see if they've had any leads so far. Locating a person like this takes time, especially if they're hiding."

"I know," said Drasyre, placing his head in his hands again.

Vector stood up, feeling the cold drag at his body. His muscles were drained and lethargic, his blood chilled. If he stayed out here much longer, his reptile body would succumb to the temperature and he would slip into a coma. "I need to go in," said Vector. "Too cold."

"All right," said Drasyre. He didn't look up as Vector hobbled away into the hotel.

Vector meant to call Knuckles and Espio as soon as he reached his room. But the room was warm, and he was so cold ... He curled up on the bed, thinking that he would call once he was warmer ... and sank into the deep, paralyzed sleep of a chilled reptile.

* * *

The Floating Island was near the Mobian equator, hovering at two thousand feet and soaking up inch upon inch of tropical rain. Knuckles had opened channels and sluice gates in the island's river system that he only used once a year. These directed the overflowing rivers' water in plume after plume of water to the ocean below. At this time of year the island became a gorgeous fountain, seemingly held aloft by pillars of white mist.

Knuckles had done all he could to keep the island from flooding, and could not do much more until the monsoon passed. So today he, Zephyer, Talon and their two chao were taking a teleporter to Sapphire City to retrieve Max, Talon's chao.

Chimera and Zinc, a red dragon chao and a metallic silver chao, respectively, ran around the house yelling and throwing things at each other, excited and hyper at the prospect of seeing their brother again. Talon, who had raised Max, was as excited as Chimera and Zinc, and kept using his hovershoes to fly through the house, colliding with walls and furniture, leaving footprints on the doors.

"Talon, not in the house!" Zephyer yelled as the anteater swooped through the living room, the soles of his shoes ablaze with chaos energy. Talon landed, walked quietly out of the room, then leaped into flight again as soon as he gained the hallway.

Zephyer threw her hands in the air and turned to Knuckles. Knuckles was laughing silently with one fist over his mouth.

"You're not helping," she said, eyes narrowed.

Knuckles shook his head and looked at her, grinning. "So the kid's excited. Let him goof off. Talon never acts his age."

"He can act his age without destroying the house," said Zephyer as a resounding crash echoed from the back bedroom. She rolled her eyes and dashed down the hallway. "What was that?"

Knuckles left her to it. He entered the kitchen and rummaged in a cupboard for one of his portable teleporter units. He pulled one out, blew the dust off the foot-wide crystal lens, and inspected the clamps and crystal calibration panel. As he busied himself with this, Chimera scampered in. He was reddish-brown with four horns growing from the back of his skull. For a chao, he looked exotic, dragonish, and rather like Knuckles.

"When do we go?" asked the chao in his raspy voice.

Knuckles shrugged. "Pretty soon. I have to set this up someplace where the energy backwash won't hurt anything. I'm afraid we'll have to teleport in the rain."

"Max will like that," said Chimera, folding his little arms. "Wimpy little water chao. Can I help?"

"Sure," said Knuckles. "Here's a rag. Go scrub the footprints off the doors."

Chimera muttered something under his breath and stalked out of the kitchen, dragging the washrag behind him.

Knuckles went out on the front porch, and was pacing it off and calculating the effects of a Chaos energy pulse, when his communicator chirped. He unhooked it from his belt. "Yo."

"Heya boss," drawled the unmistakable voice of Vector.

Knuckles grinned. "Hey Vec! What's up?"

"Oh, this and that," said Vector. "I'm working on an ... er .. interesting case, and I need some advice."

"Oh really?" said Knuckles, frowning at the com. "I thought it was Chaotix policy not to discuss your clients with outsiders."

"You're a consultant," said Vector, and Knuckles could hear the smile in his voice. "And you're still a Chaotix member. Now, you up to this?"

"Sure," said Knuckles, sitting on the porch railing.

"Here goes." Vector took a deep breath. "Knux, what do you know about 'chaos paul-lee morf'?"

Knuckles blinked. "Wow, I haven't heard that word in ages. You mean shapeshifting?"

"Yeah," said Vector. "What do you know about it?"

Knuckles searched his memory. He had read about this not too long ago. "Let me see. It's a specialized chaos ability latent in the green Chaos Emerald. It transforms the user's body into whatever shape the user desires, but it requires considerable power. Sonic and Shadow couldn't begin to attempt it, for example."

There was a brief silence. "Yeah," said Vector. "That's ... a problem ..."

"Not trying to transform yourself, are you?" asked Knuckles.

"No," said Vector, sounding as if his mind was a million miles away. "I've ... uh ... taken a case involving it ..."

Knuckles waited, but when Vector said nothing else, he prompted, "I need a little more information, if you don't mind."

"Yeah," said Vector slowly. "Well, it's a weird story, but here goes." He told Knuckles the whole tale of Drasyre transforming himself, and of Spark stealing the silver Chaos Emerald before he could change back. "So I'm between a rock and a hard place," Vector concluded. "I have to help Drasyre, but that means putting Spark in danger."

"And heaven knows that Spark doesn't need that right now," said Knuckles with a sigh. "He's terminal."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line. "Didn't know that," said Vector quietly. "What do we do, boss?"

"I'll talk to him," said Knuckles. "I'm going up there tomorrow anyway, and we'll see what happens. Maybe he'll give the emerald back."

* * *

Sapphire City was roaring with life when Shadow opened his eye. Traffic noise was deafening at rush hour. He was surprised that he could hear it so well from inside the apartment ... then he lifted his head and realized that he wasn't in the apartment. He was on the roof.

He sat up with a start. Condensed moisture ran in trickles down his robotic limbs and dripped into his eye. His fur was soaked and chilled, and the winter sun was making him steam. He scrambled to his feet, then dropped to all fours and shook himself like a dog, sending spray in all directions. Feeling slightly warmer, he walked to the edge of the roof and looked down.

Wait a minute. There was the apartment complex across the street from him. He was on the roof of the business high-rise across from it.

"Mekion," he yelled mentally at his other half, "what did you do? I went to sleep indoors!"

The only reply was stony silence.

Shadow searched his memory for any shreds that Mekion might have left in his nocturnal wanderings. There was no distinct memories, but there were impressions and sensations, information that his body had gathered and his brain had stored. He remembered skating at breakneck speed up a highway, dodging cars. He remembered his shoulder aching as he climbed a ladder. Last of all he remembered a light in the sky. But like a dream, these impressions faded as soon as he remembered them. Maybe he should chain himself up at night to prevent this sort of thing.

The black hedgehog located the ladder on the side of the building, slid down it into an alley, and sneaked back across the street to Nick's apartment. Nick opened the door at his knock, and stared as a shivering, dripping Shadow stepped inside. "Don't ask," said Shadow, heading for the bathroom for a hot shower. "You don't want to know."

As he stood under the steaming water, rinsing grime out fur and scrubbing it out of his metal joints, he wondered about the light in the sky. Why was Mekion interested in it? Every time that Mekion had taken over, Shadow had awakened in some high place that gave a clear view of the sky. It frightened Shadow. It was so unlike anything that Mekion had ever done! Was he trying to destroy aircraft now?

He emerged from the bathroom forty-five minutes later, his scrubbed fur bearing rake-marks from his comb. Nox met him at the door. "Shh!" the chao whispered. "Somebody's at the door."

Shadow and Nox shrank back behind the bathroom door. Nick had opened the door three inches and was looking out.

By this time, Shadow had discovered that Nick lived in fear of GUN finding out about his Chaos field, and taking him away for 'study'. Shadow shared this fear, but his was not so extreme, for he was capable of destroying and maiming anything the military could throw at him.

A high-pitched female voice said, "You can't fool me, I know he's in there. Hey Shadow, it's Amy!"

He knew that voice and that name. He dug back into layer after layer of semi-repressed, fragmented memories. Amy. A pink hedgehog. He had seen her on Mecha's ship, the Annihilator. And she was looking for him?

He stepped out of hiding and whispered, "Let her in, Nick."

Nick looked over his shoulder with a frown, but stepped back and opened the door.

Amy stepped inside, looking around dubiously. Then she spotted Shadow, and her eyes lit up. "Shadow!" she squealed, darting toward him. Before he could react, she threw her arms around him and squeezed him in a hug.

Shadow disliked physical contact. Any time anyone touched him, he was injured soon afterward, as Robotnik had showed him in his lab. Shadow's robot hand closed on the quills on top of Amy's head. He jerked her out at arm's length and held her there. Amy shrieked and clapped her hands to her head.

He let go and stepped back. "You have no business here," he whispered, trying to ignore the scratchy feeling in his throat. "Leave."

"But Shadow," said Amy, rubbing the top of her head, "I came all the way here to see you! I want to be your girlfriend!"

Shadow's reaction surprised everyone, including himself. He laughed.

He had not laughed in longer than he could remember. Nick, Amy and Nox all stared as he laughed in his odd, whispering voice, which soon dissolved into a coughing fit. Amy? His girlfriend? He looked at his ferocious metal hand, considered Mekion's reaction, and his dormant sense of humor sprang to life. Darn it, that was funny!

"Shadow, are you sick?" Amy asked, for his coughing sounded as if his lungs were tearing apart. Shadow shook his head and drew deep breaths. As he calmed down, he felt a new, stabbing pain in his throat and chest. Laughing felt good at first, but it had its price.

"He's fighting a form of bronchitis, I think," said Nick. "Look, Amy, you can't stay here. My apartment is too small, and people will notice the Mobians moving around here, and ..." He looked at Shadow, and Shadow understood. Someone might come looking for Amy, and if they found out about Nick, then there would be questions, discovery of Nick's condition ... word might get back to GUN ... No, Amy couldn't stay here.

"Go home, Amy," Shadow whispered, wiping his mouth. "No doubt Sonic misses you."

"That's why I'm here," said Amy, glaring. "Sonic's getting married, and I'm taking revenge by dating people he doesn't like."

Shadow gazed at her, sensing the spite crackling from her like electricity. "Sonic does not like me, hence your choice?"

Amy nodded.

For some reason this hurt Shadow somewhere deep down. She had not sought him out because she liked him, or was interested in him; she had done it to take revenge on someone else. In essence, she was using him as a pawn. The gall of bitterness rose in him as swiftly as the laughter had done.

He crossed his arms to protect his heart. "Then you are wasting your time. You are not here for me. You are here for you. It is a hard thing to realize that the world does not revolve around you."

Amy's mouth fell open. Shadow's words hurt her even more than Tails's, because they were true. She didn't notice Nox, for the black chao was standing behind Shadow, but Nox was biting his lower lip, trying not to burst into tears. From Shadow, Nox felt a burst of pain, and anger at being made to feel that pain. From Amy he felt a mixture of sorrow, rage, and selfishness. From Nick's direction came steadily rising terror. Nox was the tuning fork, resonating emotionally and afraid that he might shatter.

"You're as mean as Sonic!" Amy cried.

Shadow's eyes, natural and robotic, focused on her. "I am far meaner than Sonic. I have far less to lose. If you were wise, you would depart immediately. Mekion may decide that you are a threat." As he spoke, he knew that Mekion had already scanned her, calculated her threat level as negligible, and had returned to his silent contemplation of who knows what.

"But I don't have anywhere else to go!" Amy wailed. "I have to stay here!"

Shadow looked at Nick and raised an eyebrow.

Nick stepped forward. "Look, Amy, I like Mobians, but this is a small apartment. There isn't room for you, and I don't want kidnaping charges brought against me."

"I can sleep on the floor," she said. "Please don't throw me out. Please." Her eyes filled with tears.

Nick looked helplessly at Shadow, who shrugged. Nick ran a hand over his short hair and sighed. "Fine, you can stay here until I can contact your family."

"Don't call them!" said Amy in horror. "I ran away!"

Nick looked at her in growing distaste. "You did, huh? I'm defiantly tracking them down, now." He picked up his wallet and put on his coat. "I'm late for work. When I come home tonight, you'd better be ready to leave, Amy." She glared at him until he was out the door and gone down the steps.

Shadow turned his back on Amy and entered the kitchenette to find something for breakfast. His stomach was pinched with hunger, probably because he had been sleep-running. He opened a cupboard and took down a package of powdered food supplement, which Nick had picked up for him in a Mobian store. Shadow liked it because he could wolf it down and feel full. He poured it into a cup, mixed it with water, and ate the resulting sludge with his fingers. He knew that Amy was watching him, but he didn't care. Yes, he was a slob. He was also starving. He had enough problems without some girl trying to ruin his life, the way she was trying to ruin Sonic's.

At the thought he turned to look at Amy. She was standing beside the table, watching him with a sort of horrified fascination. "So," he whispered, "has it worked?"

"H-has what worked?" said Amy.

Shadow nodded at her. "Your revenge on Sonic with your choice in dates. Has it worked?"

Amy folded her arms and turned her head, angry at the memory. "No," she growled. "He thinks it's funny. And so do you."

Shadow chewed and swallowed. Eating soothed the pain in his throat, and he could speak if he swallowed afterwards. "Yes," he whispered. "Because your actions are foolish. You may offend or annoy Sonic, but you will not hurt him. I am not his enemy. If you wish to upset him, you must not only fraternize with his enemies, you must become his enemy."

"Become ... his enemy?" said Amy slowly, trying not to stare at the mess that Shadow was making. "Like ... want to kill him?"

"Yes," said Shadow.

Suddenly Shadow was no longer speaking, but his lips kept moving, forming words that he had not meant to say. "I am his enemy, as well as the enemy of all. I was trained by Metal Sonic, who is the chief of hatred and deception. I am indebted to him and will one day destroy him to--"

He clapped a hand to his mouth in shock. Mekion had bypassed Shadow entirely and simply used Shadow's mouth to communicate. "No," Shadow snarled. "I don't want any of those things! Mekion, stop it!"

In the same breath, but in a softer whisper, Mekion replied through Shadow's mouth, "You are nearly obsolete, Shadow. Living, you will die."

In the same second, Shadow looked down and saw the metal on his left half crawling over his fur like molten worms, turning the rest of his cells into cold, dead metal. He screamed and clawed at himself, trying to stop it, trying to push it back, but it slid through his fingers like oil. Mekion was laughing ...

Shadow came to on the floor with Amy and Nox kneeling over him. Shadow sat up with a gasp and looked down at himself, seeing to his relief that the black metal and the black fur remained where they had always been. He clutched his chest, and felt places where he had clawed himself. He was bleeding under his fur.

"What happened?" asked Amy. Her eyes were wide in fear.

Shadow looked from her to Nox. "What did I do?"

Nox was trembling, but his voice was calm enough. "You and Mekion were arguing, and suddenly you started screaming and thrashing around ... like you got shot or something. Then you fainted."

"Was there ..." Shadow's voice closed off. His throat was full of mucus. He climbed to his feet and spat in the sink.

Nox said, "There was nobody around to attack you. It was just you and Mekion."

"Mekion," said Shadow bitterly, and coughed. He spat out more mucus, and stared at it. A silver substance was coming up now, like ash or metal shavings. It tasted like blood. He rinsed out his mouth, gripped by the sudden, overpowered urge to call Mecha. Not only had Mekion aggressively invaded his mind somehow, but now he was choking up this weird gray stuff. Standing at the sink with Amy and Nox watching him, Shadow felt terrified, very young, and very alone. What if Mekion did have the power to roboticize him? Shadow didn't know if he did or not. Mecha would know. He built Mekion. But Shadow couldn't use Mekion to call his old master, not when this was happening to him.

"Nox," he said, "I need to call Mecha."

Nox and Amy stared at him, and it took him a moment to realize why. His voice had returned. "Wait," he said in his old, natural voice, no longer whispering. "How is this possible?" He touched his throat. The pain was ebbing. Was this a trick, or had his voice miraculously healed? Maybe not miraculously ... those were dead nanites that he was coughing up.

"Um," said Amy, "there's a radio in the Tornado. How come you've been whispering, anyway?"

"Show me," said Shadow, pushing past her. "I need to tell Mecha about this, and I don't care what Mekion does to me."


	7. Chapter 7: Meetings

Chapter 7 - Meetings

* * *

"Sonic! Sonic!"

The blue hedgehog turned to see Tails running toward him, tails bushed out like tumbleweeds behind him.

Sonic had been about to enter his hut, but stepped off the step and back toward his friend. "Tails! What's wrong?"

"The Tornado's been stolen!" Tails's eyes were full of tears. "Somebody broke in the back door! Who would do that, Sonic?"

"Show me," said Sonic, mouth setting in a tight line.

Tails took him to his workshop and showed Sonic the opened window, the unlocked door, and the garage door which was wide open. The Tornado's canopy was missing, showing that whoever had taken it had a little foresight. The spare fuelcan, however, was sitting where Tails had left it, as well as the Chaos Emerald power converter. The thief had not been interested in the Tornado as a weapon.

A suspicion was forming in the back of Sonic's mind. "Tails," he said softly, "have you seen Amy this morning?"

Tails stared at him. "You think she stole it? But--but she can't even drive!"

"The Tornado can," said Sonic.

The pair gazed at each other in growing apprehension, then Tails dashed out in the direction of the Roses' hut.

Sonic walked over to Tails's workbench and inspected its contents without touching anything. The thrall sphere dominated the wrenches, power drills, screwdrivers, and welding masks. If only Tails could teach the Tornado to use the sphere the way Tails did, himself ...

He heard footsteps and looked up. Spark was standing outside the garage door, silhouetted against the sunny morning outside, and for a second Sonic thought it was Shadow. "Anybody in there?" called Spark faintly.

Sonic moved toward the door. "In here, Spark. Somebody stole the Tornado."

Spark slowly lifted a hand and grasped the doorframe. Leaning against it, he said in a low voice, "Sonic, he's coming. We have to run. He's coming."

Sonic walked up and peered at his brother. Spark's face was gray, and his eyes were vacant and unfocused. "Spark, you okay?"

"No," said Spark. Each word seemed to cost him a huge effort. "I looked into the emerald. I saw him coming. I saw him destroy everything. I'm gonna be the first to go."

"Spark." Sonic put both hands on his brother's shoulders. "Look at me."

Spark's wandering gaze fixed on Sonic's eyes.

Sonic said, "What you did is called Chaos Sight. It lets you see all kinds of possible futures, and they almost never come true."

Spark did not respond for nearly a minute. Then he said, "It doesn't?"

"No," said Sonic, releasing him and stepping back. "By the way, who's coming?"

Spark opened his mouth, then shut it and gazed off up the street. Sonic watched him. It dawned on him that Spark was living in fear of someone or something--the irritability, the constant looking over his shoulder. It wasn't only the poison in his body that had made him ill.

"Nobody," said Spark quietly. "Nobody's coming. Not if it doesn't come true. No, nobody." He turned and drifted away, mumbling to himself. Sonic gazed after him, frowning. He would have followed, but Tails rounded the corner of the garage at that moment, glaring. "Amy's gone, Sonic. Her mom said that her bed wasn't slept in last night."

"This is looking pretty bad," said Sonic, trying not to think about Spark. "Where in the world would Amy go?"

Tails threw his hands in the air. "I don't know! She took MY plane and ran for it! You don't think she'd dump it in a lake to get back at me, do you?"

Sonic shook his head. "I can't predict her. She's off her nut. Can you track the Tornado somehow?"

"Sure," said Tails, ears flattening, "if I had a high-powered scanner that wasn't built into the Tornado."

Sonic jerked a thumb at the garage. "What about your thrall sphere?"

Six seconds later they were inside the workroom. Tails sat on an overturned crate with the sphere in his lap. It was the size of a bowling ball and very heavy. He pulled off his gloves and ran his fingers over the polished surface, feeling and hearing the single note that the crystal resonated. Tails knew that the sphere could hypnotize him if he listened to a single sustained note too long, so he kept his fingers moving, altering the pitch of the note.

As Sonic watched, Tails played one note after another, listening to each. As the chaos energy of the sphere interacted with the energy in Tails's body, the world around him fell silent, and through the sphere he could hear voices talking, cars running, footsteps on a dirt path--noises from anywhere on Mobius. He was listening for one note, however: F sharp, which let him hear the Tornado.

Suddenly he had it. Amy's voice was saying, "It can't be that hard, Tornado."

"Target is beyond my range," the Tornado replied.

A new voice spoke, and Tails frowned, trying to place it. A low, male voice. "Tornado, you still possess the routing information for our network. Connect to that."

Was that Mecha? No, Mecha's voice was higher than that. Tails listened as the unknown voice instructed the Tornado on connecting to the network, aware that Sonic was beginning to fidget. Tails wanted to speak to the Tornado, but was afraid that the stranger might hear. Was that Shadow? If so, what had happened to his voice?

His suspicions were confirmed when the Tornado at last connected. The male voice spoke through the network with a slight robotic overtone, and Tails recognized Mekion's voice. So it WAS Shadow!

"Hello Mecha," Shadow said through Mekion's uplink.

"Shadow!" replied Mecha, sounding astonished and pleased. "It has been an age, figuratively speaking. How is your condition?"

"I am alive," said Shadow dryly, "if that counts for anything. Mekion is worse. That is why I made contact."

"Go on." Mecha's voice dropped in concern.

Shadow drew a breath, even though he was speaking with his internal radio and not his voice. "Many things are wrong. I'm hearing voices. I wake up in strange places, because Mekion takes control while I sleep. I can only speak to you now because for some reason he permits it. And he ... he made me hallucinate roboticization."

There was several seconds' pause. "Yes," Mecha murmured, "Mekion is much worse."

"He can't really roboticize me, can he?"

"No," said Mecha. "Mekion's chemical composition is completely different from that of a nanite roboticizer. Mekion's only power over you is that of mind. I did not design his functions to take over yours. Your brain must remain dominant if only to keep your internal organs functioning. If Mekion usurps your dominance, you will die."

Tails felt sick. He shouldn't be listening to this. He didn't know why he kept tuned to the frequency, but he did.

He heard the terror in Shadow's voice as he said, "Mecha, I can't stop him! His control is insidious. I don't understand how he does it. Please tell me that you do!"

"I do not, Shadow." Mecha's voice was so mellow--so kind--that Tails felt a knot in his throat. How could a robot built to kill people sound so paternal? Mecha continued, "If I understood it, I could have repaired Mekion. His nanotech is fused into your neurons."

Shadow was silent.

After a moment Mecha said, his voice thick with feeling, "Shadow ... I am ... so terribly, terribly sorry ..."

"Don't be," said Shadow, sounding angry. "I need a solution, not regrets. Today I coughed up this silver stuff, and my voice came back. Did Mekion do that?"

Mecha's voice was cold, his feelings hurt because of Shadow's tone. "No. Those are the healing nanites in your body at work. It seems that they repaired your damaged larynx."

"Oh."

Tails ground his teeth and thought, "Apologize to Mecha, you jerk."

But Shadow only said, "Thank you for your assistance, Mecha. I shall perhaps be in touch."

"Yes," said Mecha with no inflection at all. "Ending transmission."

"Jerk!" Tails yelled, losing his focus and the note.

Sonic jumped. "What? What?"

Tails realized that he was panting. He liked Mecha almost as much as he did Sonic, having spent a lot of time with the android, and hearing in his voice how much he cared for Shadow--and for Shadow to blow him off--Tails wanted to wrap his fingers around Shadow's throat and squeeze.

Trembling with rage, he repeated the conversation to Sonic, who listened with a frown. When Tails finished, Sonic said, "Shadow must be really losing it to snap at Mecha. Maybe it's because Amy's with him."

"Jerk," Tails muttered. "Mecha just apologized, that's all ... and Shadow bit his head off!" He drew several deep breaths and tried to calm down.

Sonic watched him. "Ticked you off a bit, I see."

Tails nodded. "Yeah. They were linked through the Tornado. They could be anywhere."

"Call back and talk to the Tornado," said Sonic. "It'll tell you where it is."

"Right." It was several more minutes before Tails was calm enough to focus on the sphere again. Then he slowly, painstakingly located the note again, and tuned into the Tornado's radio frequency through the wavelength itself. He listened. No sound from anyone--he could hear traffic noise in the distance. "Tornado?" he said, keeping his voice in a monotone at F sharp. "This is Tails. I'm using the sphere."

"Hello Tails," said the Tornado, replying with its radio on the same frequency.

"Tornado," said Tails, "where are you?"

"Sapphire City, just south of North Strand Avenue."

"Great," said Tails. "Did Amy steal you?"

"Amy informed me that you had granted your permission for the journey," replied the Tornado, sounding pleased with itself. "I complied with her request. She wished to investigate Shadow's condition."

Tails frowned. "Can you bring her back to Knothole? You have my permission to take her on one more trip, and that's all. You'll run out of fuel."

"Affirmative, Tails," replied the Tornado in a subdued tone. "I must wait until she returns, however. She has departed with Shadow."

"All right," said Tails. "I'll check in again later." He released the sphere and cleared his throat. Speaking in a monotone was hard. Sonic raised his eyebrows, and Tails told him everything.

Afterwards, Sonic sat with his hands pressed together, gazing at them. "Let Amy stay there," he sat at last. "If she wants to hang out with mister homicidal himself, that's her business. I could teleport down and get her, but I don't think I want to. She's more trouble than she's worth right now."

Tails was inclined to agree, but the idea of Amy hanging around Shadow alarmed him. "You don't think he'll hurt her, do you?"

Sonic shook his head. "Naw, he's like a wolf. He'd never hurt a female of his own species. He's not above scaring her to death, though. I hope he gets through to her about what a blockhead she's being."

Tails shook his head and looked at the glowing yellow spark in the center of the ball in his lap. "I hope you're right."

* * *

The Sapphire City chao gardens were a series of little walled playgrounds where dozens of chao lived. Many of these were open to the public, but the largest ones were private, for the chao inside had bonded with certain individuals, and were indifferent, even hostile, to outsiders. 

Knuckles, Zephyer and Talon were among the latter. Knuckles and Zephyer had adopted the chao belonging to them, but couldn't afford to adopt Talon's chao yet. So Zinc and Chimera, the adopted chao, accompanied their family to visit their chao siblings.

The receptionist chao at the front desk greeted them by name and issued them day passes. He directed them to garden four. The little group entered the gate and waved their passes at the guard, who was a black bat. The bat was writing furiously in a notebook, and motioned them through the gate, hardly looking up.

The chao in the gardens recognized their visitors, and mobbed them as soon as they stepped through the gate. There was Velocity, Sonic's dark blue chao, and Elleno, Serena's violet chao, both with spines like hedgehogs. There was a chao with enormous wings named Pilot who belonged to Tails. There was a white chao with green eyes who looked like the monster Chaos--Chalcon, Slasher's chao.

Last of all came a green chao, running on his flippers like a seal, dripping wet from swimming in the fountain in the garden's center. Talon crouched and held out his arms, and Max flung himself upon his young master, half-laughing and half-sobbing, "Talon! Talon! Talon!" The anteater held him in a tight hug, grinning, not caring that his fur was now sopping wet. Knuckles and Zephyer exchanged smiles. Zinc and Chimera had plunged into the throng, and were trying to thrash Velocity and Chalcon, but Velocity was too fast and Chalcon too easygoing to do more than block their blows and laugh.

"I've missed you so much," Max murmured in Talon's ear. "Why do I have to stay here? Can I go home with you this time?"

"That's why we came," said Talon, pulling away from Max and looking into his deep green eyes. "We need to take you to Knothole for a few weeks. You're going on vacation."

Max's eyes widened. "You mean it? I can really leave the gardens?"

Talon nodded.

Max expressed his excitement by hugging Talon again, then leaping away and capering about on the grass.

Knuckles handed out the cookies and candy that he and Zephyer had brought along, then went back inside to fill out the paperwork that allowed Max to leave the gardens. Talon retreated to a corner with Max, where the pair ate their snacks and talked a mile a minute.

Zephyer sat on a bench in the chilly winter sun and watched. It was colder in Sapphire City than on the Floating Island, but the cold had not bothered her as much now that she was pregnant. She watched the chao and Talon, practically unaware of the ambient temperature.

Max looked so much smaller than she remembered. It must be because Talon was bigger. In a few months he would turn fourteen, and already his legs were longer and his voice starting to crack. He had lost that unhealthy pinched look, too. Living on the Floating Island, and constantly walking up and down hills and battling the weather, had built muscle on the youngster. And there was something more; something in Talon's eyes that spoke of the healing wound in his spirit. He had lost his parents barely a year before running away to the Floating Island, and had suffered from shock and grief the entire time that Zephyer had known him. But this would make his fourth year on the island, and Talon's new home with the echidnas was healthy and stable. He was still painfully shy--even around the chao, Zephyer saw him withdraw into his shell--but he was recovering. For the first time Zephyer wondered if Talon might have a chaos field. Maybe they could test it while they were in town. Knuckles would be thrilled to teach Talon the mysteries of Chaos Power.

The door into the chao garden opened, and she looked up to see Knuckles step in, leading a lanky orange fox, who carried a chao in one arm. Knuckles had a strange look on his face. He caught Zephyer's eye and raised one eyebrow, nodding to the fox. Something was up. She rose to her feet and walked over, confused. This was a private garden. What was a stranger doing here?

The fox looked at Zephyer, and something about his eyes struck a chord of recognition in her mind.

"Hello," he said in a low voice. "Thank you for allowing me to visit this garden." He turned to Knuckles and said, "You may return to your former activities."

Zephyer's eyes dropped to the chao in his arms. The chao was a gleaming metallic blue, with dark red eyes. She gazed steadily at Zephyer. Zephyer squinted. She knew that chao.

Knuckles walked back inside, looking over his shoulder in concern. Yes, something was up. Zephyer smiled anyway and extended a hand. "I'm Zephyer. Pleased to meet you."

The fox shook her hand, and she was shocked at his ice-cold touch. "Yes Zephyer, the pleasure is all mine. It is thrilling to walk about, completely anonymous, even to former enemies. Must I introduce myself?"

That voice. That crisp, lucid tone. Her eyes moved to the chao in his arms, then she looked at the fox again. His eyes were too slanted for a fox's, and his pupils were a fiery red.

"Mecha," she whispered.

He nodded, smiling. "I am traveling in disguise. You may call me Melthision."

"And I'm Aleda," said the chao.

Zephyer felt oddly winded, as if she had been punched in the chest. Mecha--dressed as a fox? In a private Sapphire City chao garden? Acting perfectly cordial to her? It boggled her mind. "Uh," she stammered, "what are you doing here?"

"I saw you and Knuckles arrive," said Mecha. "I wished to grant Aleda the privilege of meeting the Knothole chao. Knuckles saw no harm in this."

"Okay," said Zephyer. "Go ahead."

Mecha stooped and set Aleda on the grass, and she darted off into the midst of the other chao. They all backed away and stared at her in silence for a second--then they closed in around her, chattering and laughing. Aside from Zinc, they had never seen a metallic chao before.

Zephyer returned to her bench, and Mecha followed her and sat on the furthest edge. He didn't know what to do with his fox-tail, and for some reason she wanted to laugh as he twitched it to one side, then the other, finally pulling it into his lap.

"Why don't you disguise yourself as a hedgehog?" she asked him. "No tail to worry about then."

"Technically hedgehogs have tails," said Mecha, "although they are very short. I selected this form because taking the form of an organic hedgehog makes me look like ..." He trailed off in a growl that Zephyer understood all too well.

"I see," she said, watching Aleda tackle Chimera. Their scuffle was brief, but fierce, and Aleda broke free and ran with Chimera pursuing. Mecha started to rise, but Zephyer put out a hand. "Let them fight. It's how they make friends."

Mecha looked uncertain, but sat down again. "If she cries, I shall not be responsible for my actions."

Zephyer watched as Aleda doubled back, tripped Chimera and whaled on him with both little fists. "I don't think you have to worry about that."

They watched the chao in silence until Aleda and Chimera finished fighting, and Chimera had limped off to a corner of the garden to sulk. Zephyer said, "So what brings you to Sapphire City, Mecha?"

"Many reasons," said Mecha. He was silent a moment, as if considering his next words. "Shadow is in Sapphire City, and he is ... distressed. I have placed myself in proximity to him in the event that he requires aid."

"Oh," said Zephyer. "Uh ... did he run away or something?" She realized that she should not have asked, for a spasm of pain crossed Mecha's face. He closed his eyes a moment, as if trying on control himself. In a hoarse whisper he said, "Shadow is damaged in such a way that Mekion sees me as a threat to be eliminated."

The last time Zephyer had seen Shadow and Mecha, Shadow had been the overprotective caretaker. Shadow wanted to kill Mecha now? What in the world had happened? But she couldn't ask, not with the raw pain staring from Mecha's scarlet eyes.

Across the garden, Talon was gazing at their visitor and stroking Max. Zephyer recognized the way Talon was clutching Max to his chest, half-protectively and half for protection, like a small child's safety blanket. It sent a pang through her heart as she remembered Talon's suffering during the biotic war, before and after his injury, and how he would hold Max like that for hours. But for all that, Talon was healing.

On the other side of the garden sat an android, suffering the same kind of wound in his spirit that time could not heal. Suddenly Zephyer wanted to protect Mecha the way she did Talon--help him heal and grow strong again. At the same time she that it was foolish. Mecha could take care of himself and accepted help from none. But still. "Mecha," she said softly, "if I can do anything to help, just ask."

He turned his head and gazed at her, then dropped his eyes to the grass. "I do not require your assistance. But ... thank you for offering." He rose to his feet and began to pace up and down, flustered. He didn't know how to react to kindness.

Zephyer rose to her feet, wanting to say something more, even though she didn't know what. But she was interrupted as the chao garden door opened again, and Knuckles stepped in. He looked at Zephyer and the pacing Mecha for a long moment, then beckoned to his wife. She hurried up to him. "Did you know that that's Mecha?" she whispered.

He nodded. "I thought it was. What's he doing?"

"He brought his chao to meet ours. He's ... here to help Shadow. Because Shadow is in distress or something like that."

Knuckles watched the fox walk up and down beside the wall. "He's not aggressive or anything?"

"Not that I saw," said Zephyer. "He was perfectly civil to me."

Knuckles bit his lip. "I need you to come sign these papers with me. Should we leave Talon with him?"

Zephyer looked over her shoulder. "He seems docile enough ... will it take long?"

"Just a few minutes."

Zephyer nodded. She turned and called, "Talon, I'm going to sign the papers. If you need anything, we're right in here."

Talon nodded.

After the echidnas left, Mecha stopped pacing and resumed his seat on the bench. He sat perfectly still, elbows on knees, watching the chao. Talon stared at him from across the garden. He didn't know who this strange fox was, although he wondered if he was an android. The fox moved in an odd, fluid way that Talon recognized from years of watching his android cousin. He had also observed Zephyer talking to the fox, so he must not be dangerous.

As Talon watched, the fox rose to his feet, lifted a hand in a semi-wave, which was returned by his blue metallic chao, and walked toward Talon. Instinctively the anteater tensed, and Max slid out of his master's lap and stood between the stranger and Talon, not exactly threatening, but ready if something happened.

They need not have worried. The fox sat down on the grass ten feet away, far enough to feel safe but near enough to talk. "Hello," said the fox. "I am Melthision."

"I'm Talon," said the anteater. "What are you doing here?"

"I am an ... acquaintance of the Freedom Fighters," said Melthision. "I brought my chao to meet theirs. I see you own one, as well."

Max scrambled into Talon's lap again, and Talon placed a hand on his warm little head. "Yes. His name is Max."

The fox tilted his head to one side and blinked. "Fascinating. I have a friend who named his chao Nox."

Talon nodded, not sure how to answer this. He was spared, however, as Melthision's chao ran up to Melthision and stood with both paws on his knee, gazing into his face. Communication of some kind passed between them. Neither spoke, but Melthision nodded toward Talon, and the chao trotted up to him.

"Hi!" she said. "I'm Aleda. What's your name?"

"Talon, and this is Max."

Max stared at Aleda. "Wow, you're a weird color! Are you from South Mobius?"

"I don't know," said Aleda, glancing at her owner. "Mech--I mean Melthision hatched me in the place where we live."

Max slid out of Talon's lap and stood in front of Aleda, measuring their heights with a flipper-paw. "Do you have a large form?"

"Yes!" said Aleda, pleased. "I'm a praying mantis."

"I'm a seamonster!" said Max. "I'd show you if I had a Chaos Emerald."

Aleda started to open her mouth, paused, then said, "Wish I had one, too."

"Race you to the fountain!" said Max, dashing off.

"Hah, you're slow!" Aleda yelled, beating him there.

Talon glanced at Melthision to see that the fox was laughing. "Do you run fast?" Talon asked him. Chao usually adopted the characteristics of their owners.

Melthision shrugged. "My metabolism permits my limbs to move at unusual speeds, but it is not unusual for my kind. What is your chao's ability?"

"Uh ..." Talon looked at Max, who was splashing about in the fountain's basin while Aleda watched. "He can shapeshift and use Chaos Healing."

"Really now." Melthision studied Talon. "Which of these does he derive from you?"

Talon blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"A chao's power usually mimics their master's," said the fox, "or complement it in some way. What is yours?"

Talon shook his head. "I don't have one."

"Of course you do," said the fox, waving a hand. "You live on the Floating Island, home of the most concentrated Chaos energies in the world. You must have Chaos proficiencies."

Talon looked at his shoes. They were made of a blue leather-like material. The sole of one was carved from red super emerald ore, and the other was carved from green ore. Talon could use them to hover and fly, and had done so since he was very young. He had never questioned his ability to use them, but now he wondered about it. He would have to ask Knuckles about it when they got home. In the meantime, he merely shrugged for Melthision's benefit and gazed at the chao.


	8. Chapter 8: A lie confessed

Chapter 8 - A lie confessed

* * *

Vector escorted Drasyre through the gates of Riverbase and onto one of its wide streets. The crocodile and silver-furred dog stood side by side, gazing up at the arches and domes that composed the Mobian architecture. There were trees everywhere, some supporting buildings in their upper branches. Most were leafless at this time of year, and there were dozens of bird-Mobians sitting among the bare branches. In contrast to this ingrowth, almost worship, of nature, every Mobian in sight had at least one mechanical limb. It was as if the population had rebelled against technology and run the opposite direction.

Drasyre summed it up in one word. "Unusual."

"Very," said Vector. "Whatever you do, never badmouth a Robian while you're here. It'll be the last thing you ever do."

"I was wondering about that," said Drasyre, tucking his arms inside his robe. "Thank you for the warning."

Vector led Drasyre in a winding, weaving path through the broad streets, keeping to the weak sunshine wherever possible. He was headed for the Robian Index, the facility that housed the ID numbers and craft types of all the residents. It was available to Mobian law enforcement and governments, because Robians were on standby about all new deroboticizer technology or robotic upgrades for those who wished to keep their mechanical parts.

Vector assumed that Spark would be registered in the index, because of his mechanical arm. And if he wasn't, then it was a fine delay tactic for Drasyre. The silver dog was busy gazing around him and sniffing the air, interested. He had never seen a Mobian city that was so into tree-worship, and around every corner was some new architectural marvel.

As they passed beneath a single tree encased in a glass greenhouse, a sudden pain stabbed Drasyre between the eyes. He blinked and rubbed his forehead. The pain faded, then returned again like a lightning bolt through his skull. It left after-images on the insides of his eyelids--triangles and diamond patterns. A second later it struck again, and he staggered and pressed his hands to his eyes.

Framed in the diamonds was a face with wide eyes that stared into his own. Drasyre's lips writhed back from his teeth, and the face in his mind cringed backward.

The pain subsided again, and Drasyre opened his eyes to see Vector staring at him. "You okay, Drasyre?"

"The thief has the Chaos Emerald," whispered Drasyre. "He's close. Very close. I can see him."

* * *

Spark was seated cross-legged on the floor of his hut, gazing into the white gem. He had taken to crystal-gazing for hours at a time, trying to control Chaos Sight and direct the things he saw. It helped him escape from life and the torment of his poisoned body. Sonic had told him that the horrors the emerald showed him almost never happened, so he had taken to reviewing the images in a detached sort of way, without letting the visions effect him.

But suddenly there was a sharp pain in his forehead, and the silver monster looked at him from out of the gem. Its eyes focused on him, and it bared its teeth in furious recognition. It was trapped inside of the emerald, and it was angry.

"I'm sorry!" he exclaimed aloud.

* * *

Spark's words fell on Drasyre's mind during another burst of pain. The dog sank to the pavement and snarled in a whisper, "I am going to hunt you down. And I will eat you."

* * *

Spark 'heard' these words inside of his head, and terror tore through him. "No!" he cried. "I'll give it back! I'm sorry!"

The monster snapped its jaws, and fifty miles away, a dog was doing the same. "I shall be avenged, thief."

* * *

Vector shook Drasyre. "Wake up, man. You're freaking me out, here."

Drasyre looked up at the crocodile, his eyes red and wild. "He is close. He may even be here. Lead me to him, quickly!" He bounded to his feet, and Vector hurried off up the street, hoping desperately that Spark wasn't in Riverbase.

* * *

Spark stumbled out of his hut, shielding his eyes from the sun. He had to run, to hide, to do anything but stay here. As he stood in the middle of the street, he heard claws clicking on pavement and spun around, expecting to see the beast that was hunting him. He saw only Slasher, walking toward him with her feathered wings tucked against her sides.

"Slasher," he panted, sprinting up to her. "I've got to get out of Knothole. I've done something terrible, and he's going to punish me. Slash, help me!"

Slasher looked around the open street. "Let's go into your hut where we won't be overheard."

"No!" Spark didn't want to go in there with the emerald and the monster who would see him.

Slasher regarded Spark for a second, then said, "The woods, then."

They hurried out of the village and into the forest. The trees were bare, and the forest seemed sparse and full of light. But it was empty and secluded. Slasher tested the breeze with her nose, then turned her attention to Spark. "Now, what's going on?"

Spark faced her like a small child facing a parent, debating whether or not to tell the truth. He would have to admit to his crime of theft, and at last deal with the consequences. But the consequences were going to strike soon anyway. He had nothing left to lose. "Slash," he blurted, "I stole the white Chaos Emerald from a dragon."

The velociraptor looked blank.

Spark hurried on, "I thought the emerald could heal me, so I stole it. But he's tracked me down and he'll eat me, Slasher! He said so"  
Slasher shook her head. "Slow down, slow down. Start from the beginning. A dragon had a Chaos Emerald--in, what, his jewel horde?"

So Spark recounted the tale of hearing that the mithril dragon on Seliris Island had a Chaos Emerald, and of flying out and swiping the gem while the dragon was occupied with altering his appearance. Then the disguised dragon had pursued him north to Sapphire City, where Spark had shaken him at last by having Sonic teleport him to Knothole. But the dragon was still after him. Spark saw him in the Chaos Emerald. And when the dragon found him, Spark was history.

Slasher turned and began to pace in a circle, head jerking up and down in agitation. Spark watched her, squeezing his mechanical hand with his natural hand. "What do I do, Slash?"

"Well, you've already run, and that made things worse," she said. She thumped her tail against a tree and watched the branches quiver. "You'll have to return the emerald to him. Dragons are very touchy about having their treasure stolen. Maybe we can reason with him beforehand?"

"You give it back," said Spark. "I'll go hide out in North Mobius."

"No," said Slasher. "He would hunt you down just as quickly there. If he wants the emerald, maybe we can make peace with him. Heaven knows that we don't need a dragon as our enemy right now."

"Or ever," muttered Spark. "But what do I DO?"

"Give me the emerald," said Slasher. "I need to talk to Sonic and Sally about this."

* * *

The sun shone through the apartment window, creating a warm yellow patch on the carpet. Shadow sat in this patch of sunlight with his knees drawn to his chest and hands flat on the floor, letting the warmth sink into him. He was trying to ignore Amy, who hadn't shut up since he had told her to feed herself, and she had helped herself to Nick's espresso mix in the cupboard.

"...and then Tails showed me how the Tornado keeps a profile of everybody it knows, which is how I got the idea to fly it down here in the first place. That was when me and Tails were still going out, but he stood me up for a date and HID from me! He's such a jerk. So is Sonic. I know Sonic put him up to it. Do you think Sonic is a jerk?"

Shadow made a neutral grunt. He wasn't listening to her, because he was wandering among distant paths in his mind, hearing strange voices and seeking their sources. Mekion was mixed up in there somewhere, but the strange voices made him taste metal and feel breaking glass under his fingertips. They should not be there, and his senses kept going haywire.

"...I mean, I love Sonic. I always have, but then he goes and picks Sally! How could he? I've gone more places with him and everything! I defeated Zero all by myself, and what has Sally ever done? Metal Overlord--pfff, she had a Chaos Emerald when she did that, and all I had was my hammer! It's not fair. I never want to go home ever, I want to stay with you, Shadow ..."

The voices hurt Shadow with every syllable, like whips and knives in his brain. They were coming from somewhere, if only he could figure out where. The sun was warm and soothing on his head and arms, but inside he was as cold as ice. That was why he had sought out the sunlight, hoping that it would drive away the chill in his heart that was Mekion.

"...Sonic would be so mad if I went out with you, too, so we gotta go out. Would you go back to Knothole with me, Shadow? So we could tick him off?"

Amy actually stopped talking and waited for his response. The sudden silence awoke Shadow from his reverie, and he looked up. "Huh? No."

"Why not?" Amy whined. "It'd be perfect! I came all this way and--"

"I said no," snarled Shadow. He was in enough torment without this obnoxious, ignorant girl heaping yet more torture upon him. "You appeal to me as if I had a heart, which I don't. If you want kindness, try Mecha. He has enough for both of us, and I stopped caring about you the minute I saw you on the ARK."

Amy said nothing else. After a while he heard the apartment door quietly open, then close. He heard Nox peer through the blinds, and a moment later the chao announced, "She's getting in the Tornado. She's leaving."

Shadow nodded.

Nox padded back to Shadow, and stood beside him in the sun. "You really hurt her feelings."

"So?" growled Shadow. "She's lucky I didn't tear her arms off and send her home that way."

"You could have been nicer," said Nox.

Shadow's nerves were stretched to the breaking point. He had driven away Mecha, he had driven away Amy, and the voices both frightened and hurt him. Now even his own chao was condemning him.

Shadow back-handed Nox with his robot fist. The chao flew across the room and struck a chair leg, where he lay still.

Shadow waited for Nox to get up. When several minutes passed and the chao had not stirred, a sick dread plunged into his stomach. Shadow scrambled to his feet and hurried to where Nox lay, gathering the chao up in his arms. Nox's heart was still beating.

The hedgehog carried the chao back into the sunbeam, slowly sat down, and held his chao there. Why had he struck Nox? He had not hurt Nox since those dark nights of anguish on the ARK. He had hurt Nox, and Amy, and Mecha ... what was wrong with him? Why was he determined to destroy everything good in his life?

"Nox," he whispered to the still form in his arms, "I'm sorry ..."

* * *

Downtown in Sapphire City, the front door of the Chao Co. opened, and Knuckles stepped onto the sidewalk, followed by Zephyer, Talon, and three chao. Max, who had not been outside the garden in months, insisted on running along the sidewalk beside Talon, looking at everything and scuffling with Zinc and Chimera. These two tried to act as if the outside world was boring and commonplace.

Mecha had departed some time before. Knuckles looked up and down the street for him, but the android was gone on his own mysterious business. He had talked to Talon for a long time. Knuckles turned and waited for Talon to catch up to him. "Hey Tal"  
Talon was watching Max, but he looked up at Knuckles with a quick smile. "Hello sir."

"What'd you think of that fox guy?"

"Melthision?" said Talon, raising his eyebrow. "I don't know. He was nice. Why?"

Knuckles shrugged. "Just curious. He sat over there and talked ..."

"Yeah," said Talon, frowning. "He asked me some weird stuff. He wanted to know if Max had any Chaos powers. Then he asked if I had any powers, because chao get their powers from their owners."

Knuckles looked sharply at the young anteater, but Talon was watching Max. "That's interesting. What else did he say?"

"Not much," said Talon. "He walked off to make sure his chao was all right, and that was it."

They walked in silence a moment. Zephyer was listening closely, but not saying a word.

Talon looked at Knuckles. "So ... do you think I might be able to use Chaos powers, sir?"

Knuckles shrugged. "We'll have to try it and see. We're going to Knothole this evening. I'll get Sonic to loan us his Chaos Emerald, and we'll test your Chaos field."

"Do you ... do you think I have one, sir?"

Knuckles grinned and gave Talon a gentle indian burn on his head. "Sure you do, kiddo."

* * *

"I don't believe this," said Sonic.

The blue hedgehog paced up and down the length of the hut, his motions jerky with agitation. Spark sat on Sonic's bed with his head in his hands, and Sally stood just inside the door with Slasher, arms crossed.

Sonic spun and faced his brother. "How could you do this to us? Do you know what happened with the LAST dragon we ran across? You don't mess with dragons, man! And now there's one tracking you!"

Spark looked up, his eyes dark with fear and anger. "Like duh, Sonic! Don't you think I've figured that out by now?"

"We might all die!" Sonic shouted, clenching his fists. "The Super Emeralds don't work and I have one Chaos Emerald! I can't go Super to defend us!"

"It's not about you!" Spark snarled, leaping to his feet. He extended his natural hand, palm outward, and raised his robot hand toward the stone in his forehead. Both hands crackled with electricity, and the fur rose on his arms. "Make me," he whispered.

Slasher and Sally stepped between the two, Sally with arms outstretched, and Slasher with a low growl. "Stop it, you two," said Sally. "What's done is done. What we have to decide is what to do now"  
"Give the emerald back and head for the hills?" said Sonic, giving Spark a look of withering scorn.

"Maybe," said Sally. "Dragons are reasonable creatures, aren't they? We might be able to negotiate with him. What's his name?"

"Drasyre," muttered Spark, clenching his hands together. "He's silver or mithril or something."

Slasher shook her head. "Spark, Spark, why'd you have to get one of those after us? They're the most intelligent dragons of all."

Sally turned to Sonic, whose spines were a little too bristly. He refused to look at Spark. "Sonic, you dealt with the dragon in Diamonda. Any ideas?"

"They kept him chained in a cage," said Sonic. "When he got out, he destroyed Diamonda. If this Drasyre is trapped as a dog, it's the same thing. He'll destroy everything."

Spark studied his hands. He felt sick and wretched inside. What if Knothole and New Mobitropolis both burned? It was his fault if everyone died. He was sick with fear at the thought of that horned silver head rearing over the treetops, and he was humiliated at his crime having followed him this far. He also wanted to fry Sonic to a crisp, but he tried not to think about that. Sonic was as frightened as Spark was, and just as helpless. But for Sonic it was worse.

Sonic had been Knothole's chief defender since the Freedom Fighters agreed to battle Robotnik. Now he stood before his loved ones, stricken with the knowledge that his own brother had brought ruin upon them all. Sonic couldn't fight a dragon. They were too big and powerful, and not like the robots he usually faced. Sonic didn't even have the advantage of Chaos-powered flight and invincibility.

"Spark, you have to leave," said Sonic. "The dragon can't find you here."

Spark looked at him in wordless terror, and Slasher frowned. "No, Sonic, you can't sacrifice him like that. There has to be some kind of meeting. Spark can't run forever."

"Well, you're the negotiator, aren't you?" snapped Sonic. He whirled and stormed from the hut, slamming the door behind him.

There was a stunned silence. Sonic had never talked to Slasher like that before. Sally saw the hurt in the raptor's eyes, and inhaled. "Well! Okay. We need to find out where the dragon is and plan a meeting, hopefully on friendly terms."

"I'll escort Spark," said Slasher. Her voice was too soft, and Spark and Sally felt her pain as if it were their own.

Sally laid a hand on one of Slasher's wings. "He'll cool down, Slash. He's just upset."

"I know," the raptor replied, shaking her head. "I'm afraid, too." She turned to Spark. "Come with me. We need to talk."

Spark rose without a word and followed her out of the hut.

Sally stood alone in the middle of the floor, feeling small, helpless and alone. She had to let Sonic have some time to himself, but Sally didn't know if she could cope with an impending visit from a wrathful dragon.

She returned to her hut, looking at the tree tops and wondering how to pull this off without losing lives. The dragon must not be allowed near the village, that was certain ...

As she opened to door to her hut, she heard her communicator chirp. She hurried to the shelf where it lay, snatched it up and said, "Hello?"

"Hello, Princess Sally," said an unfamiliar voice. "I have discovered something of interest to you. A lost item."

"What?" exclaimed Sally. "Who is this?"

"I was once quite familiar to you," said the voice. "I remain indebted to you for the violet Chaos Emerald, which I still plan to return."

Sally knew him at once. "Mecha."

"Yes." He sounded vaguely pleased. "I have something here that you may have missed. A hedgehog named Amy Rose."

Sally stared blankly at the wall. "You have Amy Rose? What--how--?"

"The situation is strange to me, as well," said Mecha. "It appears that she ran away. I am notifying you that I have located her, and will return her to Knothole by this evening. Also, inform Tails that the Tornado sends its regards."

"Maybe you should start from the beginning," said Sally, holding her forehead.


	9. Chapter 9: Powers and allies

Chapter 9 - Powers and allies

* * *

When Amy left Shadow, she made her way back to the Tornado in the apartment complex's garage. She climbed into the chilly cockpit and sat there, hugging herself.

Shadow's words rang in her ears. "I stopped caring about you the moment I saw you on the ARK." She had been mistaken about him, as well as Tails. She had been so certain that Shadow would succumb to her charm, and now she was out on her own again, rejected and alone. Now she didn't know what to do. She had nowhere else to go, and she didn't want to go home. Going home meant facing Sonic, Tails, and her parents. It meant accepting defeat. But Shadow had hurt her like no one else could, and she just wanted to hide somewhere and never come out again. She was also on the downside of the espresso she had drank, and the caffeine lapse had left her depressed.

"Hello Amy," said the Tornado. "Do you wish to return to Knothole?"

"No," said Amy, resting her head on one hand. "I don't want to go anywhere."

"Where is Shadow?" asked the plane.

Amy shrugged. "In the apartment. He doesn't want me around, so I left."

The Tornado was quiet a moment, then said, "I have been in touch with Tails. He has instructed me to return you to Knothole. I have enough fuel for the return trip and that is all."

Amy glared at the screen. "Tails did? How would he know where I was?"

"He contacted me with the thrall sphere," said the Tornado. "I informed him of our location and mission, and he instructed me to return."

Amy nearly screamed at the Tornado, but bit her tongue. It was just a robot that did as it was told. And maybe going home was a good idea after all. She was hungry and tired, and wanted her own bed. Sonic and Tails would leave her alone if she avoided them. Hopefully she wouldn't get into too much trouble. "Okay, fine," she said. "Take me home, Tornado."

She felt the vibration as the engine started. The Tornado said, "Observation. Takeoff is only possible from the airport. Permission to travel there in walker-form?"

"Whatever," said Amy.

The Tornado analyzed this statement, decided that it was neutral, and guided itself out of the garage. Amy rode along, thinking about returning home with a knot in her stomach, oblivious to her surroundings.

They were halfway to the airport when the Tornado unexpectedly turned off the street and entered and entered a parking lot. "Hello, Mecha," it said.

Amy's head jerked up. "What? Where?"

The Tornado had pulled up beside a brownish red fox who was sitting on a bus stop bench, feeding his chao from a paper sack. The fox looked up, and smiled in surprise. "Tornado! I did not know you were in Sapphire City. Who is with you?"

Amy peeked over the edge of the cockpit.

The fox raised an eyebrow. "Well well. Greetings, Amy."

"How do you know my name?" she asked. "I've never seen you before."

"That is due to the effectiveness of my disguise," he replied smugly. "Tornado, display my profile."

Amy looked at the screen to see an image of Metal Sonic appear and rotate. She looked from the fox to the image and back, and saw the resemblance. The fox's eyes were long and slanted, his muzzle too sharp and narrow. And the chao was a metallic blue with red eyes.

Shadow had said that Mecha had a heart now. Amy remembered the killer robot that Metal Sonic had been, but here he was, calmly feeding a young chao who didn't look remotely frightening. An idea danced to life in the back of her mind. Now Sonic would defiantly disapprove of this ...

She climbed out of the cockpit and walked up to Mecha. She held out a hand, and Mecha shook it briefly. His hand was cold. "Hi," she said. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Mecha was taken aback. He blinked and looked around, as if making sure that she was addressing him. "You do understand who I am?" he asked.

Amy nodded. "Yeah, you're Metal Sonic. So do you have a girlfriend?"

Mecha frowned at her. "I am an android. I have very little understanding of romantic relationships. Therefore I have never pursued one, and lack the interest for such things."

"Could I be your girlfriend?" Amy asked.

Mecha sat as if turned to stone. He gazed at Amy, trying to fathom this question and the motives behind it. The chao beside him, however, understood the question perfectly. She leaped to her full height of eight inches, mouth open and eyes flashing. "No!" she shouted at Amy. "He doesn't want a girlfriend, okay? Go away!"

"Hush, Aleda," said Mecha. He turned to Amy, who was trying not to laugh. "As much as your request fascinates me, I shall have to say no. I am in no position to research this to its full measure, and I have other projects that I must complete. I thank you for your offer."

It had been a long shot, anyway. Amy could not help but think that the person who had been nicest to her so far had been a robot. The chao, Aleda, continued to glare at her. Amy hid a smile. She had never seen a chao act so jealous before.

Mecha looked up at the Tornado, then down the street. "Who accompanies you, Amy?"

"Nobody," she said. "I'm here by myself."

Mecha frowned. "Why?"

Amy looked up at the sky. Why did everybody make such a big deal out of this? "I ran away from home. It's just me and the Tornado."

Mecha tilted his head to one side, a gesture that was surprisingly un-robotic. "Not only are you alone and underage, Miss Rose, but you are guilty of grand theft."

Grand theft--the words struck a blistering path of guilt through her heart. People went to jail for that.

"Do the authorities of Knothole know your whereabouts?" Mecha asked.

Amy folded her arms. "Tails knows, because the Tornado told him."

"Hm. Very well." Mecha rose to his feet and lifted Aleda in his arms. "I shall place a call to Sally, then."

"What're you gonna say?" asked Amy, thinking of the police.

Mecha walked to the Tornado and laid a hand beside one of its glowing eyes. "I shall inform her that you have been found, and I am escorting you home."

This he did, as Amy, Aleda, and the Tornado listened. He introduced himself, told Sally that he had found Amy and the Tornado, and briefly recapped how it had happened. Then he ended the call, and climbed up into the Tornado's rear seat matter-of-factly, as if he had done it a million times. Amy climbed into the front seat and looked back at Mecha. "You're going to Knothole?"

"Why not?" said Mecha. "There are things I would like to discuss with your elders."

"But--" she started to say, but stopped. The idea of Metal Sonic walking into Knothole struck her as wrong, somehow.

Mecha guessed her thoughts. "Old reputations are hard to overcome, yes. But I am no longer Metal Sonic." Amy looked hard at him, and saw that his red eyes were melancholy. In his lap, Aleda continued to glare at Amy.

Amy turned to the Tornado's console. "Okay Tornado, take us to the airport."

"Affirmative," said the machine.

* * *

Sonic sat on a car-sized boulder that overlooked the south road into Knothole. It was late afternoon, and the sun shone through the trees in golden stripes. The shadows were deep blue and held the chill of oncoming night.

He had run for an hour after chewing out Spark and Slasher, and finally stopped to rest atop this rock. His blue fur blended with the forest behind him, and he had watched people travel up and down the road without ever noticing him.

Inside he was desolate. He had hurt everyone with his fear, and he couldn't control it. He still wanted to strangle Spark for bringing this upon them--no wonder Spark had been acting weird!--but Sonic also wanted to kill himself for having hurt Slasher. She was frightened, too. Nobody deserved to be spoken to like that. Sonic had seen the reproach in Sally's eyes as he had left ... yes, he had a lot of apologizing to do.

A Mobian transport stopped on the road below, and let a group of Mobians disembark. The transport whooshed away, leaving the group in its wake, walking up toward Knothole. Sonic recognized them--Knuckles, Zephyer, Talon, and three chao. What do you know! Sonic had not seen Knuckles in more than a month, and leaped off the rock to greet him and his family.

"Hey Sonic!" they exclaimed, and there was a lot of general hand-pumping and back-slapping. Sonic congratulated Knuckles and Zephyer on their upcoming baby, which made Knuckles blush and Zephyer giggle.

They all walked on together toward Knothole, and Knuckles and Sonic fell behind the others. "I need to talk to you about something," said Knuckles.

"Me too," said Sonic. "You first."

Knuckles looked at him curiously, then shrugged and said, "I've heard some things about Spark."

"Yeah?" said Sonic.

Knuckles nodded. "Like he stole his Chaos Emerald from someone."

"A dragon," said Sonic. "Spark told us this morning."

Knuckles gave him a hard look. "He fessed up, huh? Vector's been giving me updates ... see, the dragon has Vector touring him around, hunting for Spark. Last I heard, they were headed for Riverbase."

Sonic looked over his shoulder--southwest, fifty miles from the city on the river. So that was where the dragon was. Sonic turned back to Knuckles and quietly told him about Spark seeing the dragon through the emerald, and of the dragon assuring Spark that he would eat him.

"This is worse than I thought," said Knuckles, when Sonic finished. Knuckles looked worriedly at Zephyer, Talon and the chao. "It's not safe for them here ..."

"It's not safe for anybody!" Sonic exclaimed. "Unless we have Spark go down there and meet the dragon ... somebody's gonna die no matter what we do."

They walked in silence for a few moments. Knuckles looked at Sonic and half-smiled. "I guess this is a bad time to ask this, but do you think we could test Talon's Chaos field?"

Sonic glanced at him. "You think it might help this?"

"No, it's not related at all," said Knuckles. "I just thought it might be time."

Sonic shrugged. "We already know he has one. Look at his shoes."

"I know," said Knuckles, and fell silent, brows furrowed.

They walked in silence until they reached Knothole. Then Sonic said, "Take Talon to my hut, Knux. I need to talk to Sally and Spark real quick."

Knuckles nodded.

Sonic broke into a lope, a jog for him, but an all-out run for anyone else. Sally wasn't in her hut, and as Sonic began a circuit of the village, he spied Slasher and Spark off in the trees. Spark was sitting on a rock with his head in his hands, much as Sonic had done earlier, and Slasher's head hung low near his shoulder, talking quietly. They looked up as Sonic arrived in front of them.

"Hi," said Sonic.

"Hi," they replied stiffly.

Sonic looked at them, shuffled his feet, and said, "I'm sorry about biting your heads off."

Spark nodded and said nothing, but Slasher said, "Apology accepted, Sonic. Thank you." The hurt look left her eyes, and Sonic felt a little better.

"Knux is here," he told them. "We're going to test Talon's Chaos field, and also he said that Vector is with the dragon."

Spark's head jerked up.

Sonic avoided his eyes. "The dragon seems to have hired Vector to help him find the guy who robbed him, and they're in Riverbase."

Spark leaped to his feet, eyes wide. "I gotta hide," he whimpered.

Slasher laid a paw on his arm. "Stay here. There's still time." She looked at Sonic. "Sally's over at Tails's. Better tell her."

Sonic nodded and darted off. He felt better for having apologized, but beneath that was the growing terror of an oncoming danger, like standing on the outer edge of a storm.

Sally and Tails were outside Tails's workshop when Sonic ran up. Tails was grinning. "Hey Sonic! Amy's coming home!"

"This is good news?" said Sonic.

Sally punched him lightly. "Sonic! You're supposed to be worried about her."

"Oh yeah, sure I am," said Sonic. "I really said, 'this is good news!' Does she have the Tornado?"

"Yep," said Tails, "and guess who's escorting her."

"Shadow," said Sonic.

"Mecha," said Sally and Tails at the same time.

Sonic stared at them. "You've got to be kidding."

"Nope," said Sally, and told him about Mecha's call and explanation of what had happened with Amy. Sonic listened, incredulous. When she finished, Sonic said, "Well, I definitely never expected that. So Mecha and Amy and the Tornado will be here when ..."

Wait a minute. Could the super-intelligent Mecha figure out a way to defeat the dragon?

"Knux is here," said Sonic, and explained about Vector and Riverbase.

When he finished, Sally said, "This is bad, Sonic ... But maybe we can negotiate with the dragon, agree to be shackled before he transforms or something."

"It's worth a shot," said Sonic. Lowering his voice, he said, "Mecha might be a big help, once he gets here. He knows more about tactical situations than any of us."

Sally gave Sonic a piercing look. She knew that Sonic disliked his robot look-alike, and to have Sonic talking about asking Mecha for help showed how desperate Sonic had become. She nodded. "Right. I'll discuss it with him when he arrives."

Sonic nodded. "Okay. I gotta go help Knux real quick. See you!" He galloped off, feeling encouraged. Sally and Tails were with him in this. He didn't have to face it all alone.

* * *

Knuckles, Talon, Zephyer and their chao were all inside Sonic's hut when he arrived. As Sonic's hut was small to begin with, this left very little floorspace. "Whoa," said Sonic, squeezing in the door. "Hey Zeff, you and the chao sit on my bed."

She obeyed, and helped the chao scramble up on the quilt. Knuckles backed up against the wall, leaving Sonic and Talon standing alone in the middle of the room, Talon with arms folded and shoulders hunched in nervousness.

Sonic retrieved his green Chaos Emerald from its resting place on his bureau, and handed it to Talon. The anteater took the gem with one trembling hand. "Okay Talon," said Sonic, "all you have to do is look into the emerald until something happens."

"Yes sir," said Talon. He gazed into the emerald, frowning in concentration. Everyone watched, and the silence grew thick and heavy. Talon began to sweat. At last he looked up and said, "I can't do it, sir. Nothing's happening."

Sonic looked around at all of them. "You know, let's all leave him alone. Less pressure, you know?"

The group filed out of the hut. As the chao toddled out, Talon said, "Can Max stay?"

"Sure," said Sonic, and Talon's chao bounded back in.

Sonic shut the door and looked at Knuckles. "I think you could have done this yourself."

"It has to be done with the green Chaos Emerald," said Knuckles. "They require finesse. Super Emeralds don't count in this situation, and they're unbalanced anyway."

Sonic nodded with a grimace. He and Tails had accidentally forced the Chaos Emerald to absorb its corresponding Super Emerald, throwing the remaining Supers out of synch with each other.

Sonic looked at Zinc, Zephyer's chao. He was shining silver with black eyes. "Hey Zeff," said Sonic, "what color emerald did Zinc use?"

"The white one," said Zephyer. "Why?"

Sonic didn't answer. Instead he knelt and motioned to the chao. Zinc walked up to him. "What did the white chaos emerald allow you to do?" Sonic asked him.

Zinc thought. "It let me transform into a robot echidna with horns."

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, but what else? What was your power?"

"Deception," said Zinc, looking at Sonic without blinking. "It taught me to lie."

Deception. Sonic thought of how deceptive Spark had been since he had come home, and of how the dragon had used his ability to alter his form. But wait .. shapeshifting was a Controller power, belonging to the green Chaos Emerald. Had the dragon tapped into the green emerald with the white?

Either way, it made little difference. When it came down to it, Sonic would be facing the power of the white emerald with the power of the green, the Controller, at his disposal. He looked at the closed door of his hut and wondered how Talon was doing.


	10. Chapter 10: Conclusive negotiations

Chapter 10 - Conclusive negotiations

* * *

Drasyre stood on the grass beside a phone booth, where Vector was trying to contact one of his informants. Drasyre sniffed the air, half-hoping to pick up the thief's scent. There were many smells, but none he recognized. He had had no more visions of the thief, which he regarded as a good thing and a bad thing. It was a good thing, because the visions hurt his head and he was glad that they were over, but a bad thing because he no longer knew how close he was to the gem and his body. He looked down at his puny limbs scornfully. They were nothing compared to his powerful dragon body, his silver scales that could deflect bullets, and best of all, the fire in his throat and jaws. He missed breathing fire ...

He paced up beside the phone booth. Vector's back was turned, and he was almost whispering into the phone. Drasyre's ears pricked up. Vector was saying, "We're already too close to Knothole, what're you talking about? Just have someone bring the gem down here. Yes, keep him there. What do you mean Slasher's coming? No, no, he'd never agree to that! What? No! I can't!" Vector glanced over his shoulder and saw Drasyre watching him, eyes narrowed.

"Gotta go," said Vector, and hung up.

As he stepped out of the phone booth, Drasyre growled, "To whom were you speaking?"

"A friend," said Vector. "They have the emerald, and they're sending it down here. They said to be at the Riverbase gates at four PM."

Drasyre glanced at a clock in the branches of a tree overhead. Three o' clock. In an hour he would be a dragon again. "What of the thief?" he asked.

Vector shrugged. "He's being taken care of. Come on." The crocodile strode up the street.

Drasyre hurried after him, fur bristling slightly with irritation. "What do you mean, 'taken care of'? I want him dead."

"Thieves don't deserve death," snapped Vector. "Punishment, yes, death, no."

"Honor demands it," said Drasyre. "A robbed dragon has the right to administer justice as he sees fit. By running from me the thief has ensured his death."

"You're in West Mobius," said Vector. "We have laws about these things." He pulled a ragged paperback book from his jacket pocket, opened it and held it out to Drasyre. "Got this out of my bag this morning. West Mobian laws. Right there, look: section three-seventy-two, pertaining to dragons. A wronged dragon must use the justice system like everyone else."

"I don't need a justice system," snarled Drasyre. His eyes had a red tint. "Dragons understand justice as well as anyone. Better, in fact. And justice will be done."

The dog and crocodile stalked the rest of the way to the gates in silence.

* * *

Slasher was already on her way. She wore a harness around her body like a horse's saddle, which supported a saddlebag on either side of her shoulders. The white Chaos Emerald was in one bag, and in the other she carried electromagnetic binders. The idea was to tie up the dragon to prevent him from going crazy with excess chaos charge. She had spoken to Sally about the idea of returning the emerald to the dragon at a distance from Knothole, and Sally agreed, although reluctantly. A dragon anywhere near a population center was a bad thing, and what if he attacked Riverbase? No one could fight an angry dragon.

Slasher felt sick to her stomach, and even a two-thousand foot altitude couldn't improve her spirits. It was clear and cold, and the wind carried her southwest with hardly any effort on her part. She had left after Sally had spoken to Vector, and Vector was upset and afraid. So was Slasher, for that matter. Spark had brought this danger on them all, and he was hiding in the Great Forest. She was angry at him, deep down, and she couldn't seem to get over it. Yes, he wanted healing from his disease, but at what cost? How many people would die for Spark's selfishness?

The communicator that was strapped to her wrist chirped. Slasher flicked it on. "Yes?"

"Slasher!" said Sonic's voice. "What're you doing? You can't let the dang dragon transform!"

"Sonic, every moment that he remains shapeshifted, the angrier he'll grow," said Slasher, settling into a glide.

"But Slash!" Sonic exclaimed. "It's a DRAGON! He'll come after Spark and kill everyone in Knothole!"

"We don't know that," said the raptor, but her voice shook. Sonic had voiced her own fear, and she was afraid that he was right. She swallowed and said, "The dragon has been wronged. Giving him back his property is the right thing to do, and it might perhaps give me some negotiation power with him."

Sonic sighed noisily into the speaker. "At least let me come with you. Where are you meeting him?"

"The Riverbase gates," said Slasher. "Four o'clock."

"I'll be there," said Sonic, and hung up.

Slasher flew on, feeling that this situation had suddenly taken a turn for the worse.

* * *

Alone in Sonic's hut, a young anteater sat on the floor, legs folded, the green Chaos Emerald in both hands. A green chao sat in his lap, gazing raptly at the glowing gem.

"I can't feel anything, Max," said Talon softly. "It's pretty and everything, but ... I can't make it do anything."

"I sure could," said Max. "But I'm a chao, and it's my emerald."

"The guy in the chao garden said that you might have got your power from me," said Talon, running a hand through his black forelock.

Max looked up at him. "Ooo, really? In that case, you won't do anything by just looking at the emerald." He jumped out of Talon's lap and stood beside his knee. He held up a flipper. "Give me your hand." Talon took the little flipper in one hand.

"Healing is a transfer," said Max, eyes alight with excitement. "You can't touch it directly. The great thing is that it heals you and the other person at the same time. Okay, now siphon the emerald through you and into me."

Talon looked at the gem in his left hand, and at the chao holding his right hand. Siphon the emerald? Somehow he knew what that meant. Frowning, he laid his ears back and clenched his fingers around the emerald.

A rush of warmth flowed up his left arm, through his chest, and down his right arm to Max.

Max jumped as if electrocuted. "You did it!" exclaimed the chao. "Whoa, you're really strong!"

Talon released Max and rubbed his chest. "Is it supposed to go through my heart like that?"

"Yeah," said Max, nodding. "It's like ... like it's checking to see how kind you are, or something. You're way stronger than me, so you must be really kind-hearted."

Talon smiled. Kind-hearted? He had never thought of himself that way. Wimpy, yes, always afraid, yes. Kind, no.

He rose to his feet and stretched. "I guess we can tell Knuckles and Sonic that I have a Chaos Fiel--"

Talon was interrupted as the door bust open and Sonic charged in. "I gotta go, sorry Talon," he said, grabbing the Chaos Emerald out of his hand. He vanished in a pulse of chaos energy, leaving Talon and Max standing there, stunned.

Knuckles looked in the open door. "He's so rude. You okay, Tal?"

"Yes sir," said Talon, picking up Max. "I used the emerald, but Sonic took it. I can do healing."

Knuckles grinned and clapped a hand on Talon's back. "I'm proud of you, kiddo."

"Can I tell Zephyer?" said Talon with a shy smile.

"Go right ahead," said Knuckles, and watched Talon run up the street. His smile faded, and he looked up at the afternoon sky. It was time to get his family back to the safety of the Floating Island.

* * *

Two miles from Knothole, in the depths of the Great Forest, there grew a tree that was thirty feet in diameter. It stood hundreds of feet above the forest floor, last survivor of an older world. In its trunk, someone had long ago cut and burned a small room. It wasn't large enough to harm the life of the tree, but it had once been enough to hide the Freedom Fighters. Now a single hedgehog sat inside, peering through the doorway at the sky.

Spark wore his silver headband that contained the eighth emerald shard, and constantly clenched and relaxed his hands, living and robotic. The dragon was coming. The dragon would find him.

"You've always known this," whispered the voices in his head. "Even a Chaos Wizard couldn't save you. Your crime has condemned you."

Spark had no answer for the voices. He knew that they were right. He also felt the tell-tale fever at the base of his skull. His agitation had caused his infection to flare up, and it was a matter of hours before he lost his mind entirely. How long would it last? What would he do while his mind was gone? He often woke up with blood on his hands and knife, with the voices in his head laughing in delight. Oh, how he wished for freedom from that!

He had been willing to steal from a dragon to end it, and it had fallen down around his ears instead. The voices mocked him as they gained strength, and he began to sweat as his fever rose. "I must stay here," he told himself, wishing that he could tie himself up. "Otherwise the dragon will find me. I have to stay here."

"The dragon will find you anyway," said the voices, laughing. "Run. Run far away. It's your only hope."

"No!" Spark snarled, clenching his fists. "I have to stay here!"

* * *

Vector and Drasyre arrived at the Riverbase gates as a nearby clocktower chimed four. As they stepped out onto the road that curved northward, following the river, they saw a strange lizard-like creature with feathered wings sweep down from the sky and land on the pavement a short distance away. A few seconds later, a blue hedgehog materialized in a flash of green light.

Drasyre's nostrils flared. He knew the blue hedgehog's scent. It had accompanied the thief's trail from the train station. So here was the one who could Chaos-Jump! A tricky adversary.

Vector and Drasyre walked up to the winged velociraptor and the hedgehog. "Drasyre," said Vector, "This is Sonic Hedgehog, and this is Slasher."

Drasyre nodded curtly to Sonic, but bowed to Slasher. She had six limbs, and therefore must be dragonkin. "A pleasure," said Drasyre. "You have brought my emerald?"

He knew they had it. The power resonated from nearby, and he could feel his dragon body, curled tightly in a small place, aching for freedom and laced with power. His canine body began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Yes," said Slasher. "But in exchange for that, I wish to plea for the thief's life."

"No bargaining now," said Drasyre, teeth chattering with his shivering. "Please give me my body back. I can't think until I have it."

Slasher extended both hands entreatingly. "Listen to me. I need your promise that you'll spare the thief once you transform. I know of the dragon honor code."

Drasyre was losing control this close to his full body. Her words scattered and became nonsense as they reached his ears. "Please," he whispered, clutching at his chest, where his hammering heart was threatening to burst from his ribcage. "Give me the emerald ... please ..."

Slasher looked at the silver retriever, gulped, and turned to open one of her saddlebags. "Sonic," she said softly, "take out the binders first. Vector, you and Sonic put them on Drasyre before I hand him the emerald. Then run."

Vector and Sonic gaped at her, and moved to obey.

But they never got the chance. Drasyre sprang at Slasher, ripped the top off the bag containing the emerald and sprang away with it clutched in both hands.

"Run!" cried Slasher. "Just run!"

The three bolted up the road as Drasyre dropped to his knees on the asphalt. "My beauty," he whispered to the emerald. "Give me back my body. Chaos FORM!"

The white gem exploded with light, pouring its condensed power into Drasyre's body. The hands clutching the emerald grew to the size of garbage cans, the arms gained the thickness of sewer pipes. His neck stretched longer and longer, and the dog muzzle lengthened and thickened into a dragon's jaws. His hind legs ballooned out and scales emerged to cover the fur, and the feathery tail grew into twenty feet of spike-studded sinew and gleaming scales.

Drasyre was a mithril dragon once more. He opened his wings and beat them, reared up on his hind legs and shot a plume of flame straight up in the sky. The white emerald remained clutched in one hand, and white lightning arced and danced over his body, meshing him in energy. He had emerged from the emerald with a chaos supercharge.

He leaped into the sky with a scream of rage. The thief! He must find the thief and exact justice! His mind swirled with the raw power, amplifying his rage a thousand times. First to kill and then to rend! The thief had held the emerald not an hour ago. The messenger had flown in from the northeast. The thief must lie in that direction.

With another roar and another spurt of flame, Drasyre flew off toward the Great Forest, streaming white lightning and crackling stars of energy.

Sonic, Slasher and Vector watched him go.

"I told you this wouldn't work," said Sonic.

Slasher gaped after the dragon with her jaw hanging slack. At Sonic's words, she came to herself. "We have to distract him," she said. "Sonic, on my back. Vector, run back to Riverbase and alert them that there's a mad dragon on the loose."

Vector saluted and ran back to Riverbase, relieved that she hadn't asked him to help fight Drasyre.

Sonic jumped on Slasher's back, and she launched herself into the sky in pursuit of the dragon.


	11. Chapter 11: The Dragonslayers

Chapter 11 - The Dragonslayers

* * *

The Tornado purred northwards, holding a course for the Knothole airstrip. Amy and Mecha had not spoken much over the course of the flight, for the Tornado's engine noise made conversation difficult.

Amy was slumped in the front seat, watching the controls that she was not allowed to touch, and brooding on the trouble she would be in once she got home. The wind roared over the Tornado's closed canopy, and the sky was an endless deepening blue outside.

Behind her, in the passenger seat, Mecha was seated sideways so that the three spikes on the back of his head would not tear the upholstery. Aleda lay dozing in his lap, and he gazed out the window without moving, his mind busy with the deep philosophical questions that he loved to wrestle with. But he was still semi-alert, and thus when an enormous silvery creature appeared in the distance, flying toward them, he stiffened and sat up. "Tornado," he barked at the computer. "Identify nine o' clock contact!"

Mecha's own scanners swept the object in a tenth of a millisecond and identified it as a dragon. Estimated weight: five tons. Estimated length: fifty feet, with an equal or lesser wingspan.

Amy sat up and looked as the Tornado replied, "Incoming contact identified as a dragon. Observation: its current trajectory intercepts our course in five point three minutes."

"Evasive maneuvers!" said Mecha. He had no experience with dragons, but he had read about them, including how they had all but wiped themselves out in the Chaos Wars. A tiny biplane stood zero chance of surviving a combat with a beast that size.

"A dragon?" exclaimed Amy. "But we're almost to the Great Forest! We don't have dragons!" She broke off in a squeak as the Tornado banked sharply, sweeping in a circle to carry them back southward. She and Mecha braced themselves against the sides of the cockpit and strained to see out of the windows. The dragon continued to fly northeast, ignoring them.

Suddenly there was a green sparkle of light near the dragon's nose, and a small winged creature appeared in midair. It flailed and dropped, but it startled the dragon, which pulled up in its flight, then glided in a tight circle to investigate. The winged creature resumed its midair balance and flew back up toward the dragon.

Then the Tornado was flying south, and Amy and Mecha couldn't see anymore. "Tornado," said Mecha, "resume original course, but alter it enough to pass within a mile of the dragon. Something has attacked it." He was afraid that he knew who it was, but he needed a better look ...

"Affirmative, Mecha," said the Tornado, turning again. The dragon came into view of the windows. They saw it shoot a comet of red flame at its tiny assailant. The winged creature vanished in a green flash and reappeared behind the dragon, safe for the moment. Both creatures glided in a circle, the dragon trying to get a clear shot and the tiny creature staying out of range.

"Is that Slasher?" said Amy, her nose pressed to the glass. Mecha felt a cold feeling, like seasickness, in the pit of his stomach. That winged raptor whom he had once held captive, who had once engaged in his philosophical debates, was dancing with death.

"Scans indicate that Sonic Hedgehog is riding on Slasher's back," announced the Tornado.

"Sonic's out there?" squealed Amy. "Why's he doing that?"

"Unknown," said the Tornado. "Observation: the dragon's course is in direct line with Knothole village. Theory: he is defending Knothole?"

Mecha and Amy looked at each other. Even though they both despised Sonic for different reasons, they both had to admire him for this.

"Tornado," said Amy, "let's help them!"

At the same time, Mecha said through the network, "Interface with my processor, Tornado. I will assist your computations."

The Tornado obeyed, and uploaded its data to Mecha's nanite brain. Instantly Mecha saw through the plane's eyes, felt the throb of its engine, and knew that its fuel was dangerously low.

On the plane's nose, the blue-lit pupils darkened to red.

* * *

"Chaos Wind!" Sonic yelled.

A cyclone of wind struck the dragon and whirled him around and away, his wings crumpling around his body. He plummeted three hundred feet, then snapped his wings open, stabilized and beat his way up toward them again, roaring and snarling. The liquid chemical that was secreted by glands in his throat was dripping from his lower jaw, and the sharp scent of it came to Sonic and Slasher on the wind.

Slasher dropped a wing and spiraled away from Drasyre. He was so fast! He was far stronger than Slasher was in the air. The only reason that they had survived this long was because Sonic kept teleporting them. Sonic rode flat to her neck like a jockey, one arm wrapped around her neck, the other clutching his green Chaos Emerald. He had hooked his feet through the harness strapped around Slasher's chest, and it had kept him from falling off twice already.

Drasyre was above them now, his wings blotting out the sky like a vast black tent. Sonic and Slasher looked up just as the wings closed and the dragon dove at them, jaws open.

"Chaos Control!" Sonic screamed.

The world froze as time stopped, and the dragon halted in midair. Slasher dove under him, banked and used her momentum to rocket herself up in the air again, this time behind Drasyre. "I'm going in!" she yelled to Sonic, who tightened his hold.

Slasher dove at the dragon and extended both sickle-claws on her hind feet. She struck the membrane of his right wing and raked across it with her full weight and momentum behind it. The skin was tougher than she thought, and while she tore through the scales and deep into the flesh, she did not puncture it as she had hoped.

She had barely cleared his wing when time started again. Drasyre's dive continued, but his injured wing flailed and clipped Slasher a powerful blow.

Stunned, she tumbled over and over in the air. She was falling, but she didn't know what direction was up. The world was a crazy blur of light and color, and the dragon was close by, somewhere--she sensed him, but couldn't see--she tried to open her wings, but the wind tore at them--

Sonic cried, "Chaos Relocate!"

In the blink of an eye they were a thousand feet from the ground. The wind changed at this altitude, and Slasher's wings caught the air and balanced. The dragon peered around for them, flying in a circle far below them. "That was close," panted Slasher. Her head was still spinning.

"Yeah," gasped Sonic. "What's that noise?" They looked around and saw a blue biplane flying toward them. "Hey, the Tornado!" said Sonic.

At that point Drasyre saw them and breathed a jet of fire at them. Slasher flipped sideways and dropped at an angle to avoid it. Sonic lost his hold and yelped, but was held on Slasher's back by his feet stuck through the harness straps. "Slash, I dropped the emerald!" Sonic yelled in her ear.

Slasher saw it twinkling as it fell down, down, down, finally disappearing into the long grass of the meadow below them. They could find it again, but that would take time, and the dragon would roast them long before that.

He flapped toward them, reeking of power, his chaos aura wild with it. Flecks of blood flew off his damaged wing, and he was angrier than ever. Slasher turned away in a dive, and he closed his wings and dove after her, forearms outstretched. She aimed her flight at a tall tree, then at the last second she swerved around it and beat her way skyward. Behind them Drasyre ploughed through the tree as if it weren't there, breaking the top half of it to splinters.

He was gaining and Slasher was tiring. She was gasping for breath, and her muscles burned. Her wings felt like rubber. She needed to rest, but the dragon had no intention of letting her escape. In desperation she wheeled around and dove underneath him, wings nearly closed. Drasyre swiped at them and missed, lashed with his spiked tail and caught her wing.

Slasher flipped over in midair, freefell sixty feet, then managed to open her wings wide enough to catch herself in a glide. Her right wing was twisted and sprained, and she was shocked to see that half the feathers were gone. "Slash!" Sonic yelled, and she looked up to see that Drasyre had flipped over and was swooping toward them, grinning.

Slasher was too close to the ground to dive out of the way, and her wing wasn't strong enough to lift her any higher. So she did the only sensible thing--she folded her wings and dropped into the grass.

At the same second there were two metallic whooshing sounds that Slasher subconsciously identified as a dangerous sound. She ducked. A fraction of a second later there was a crash and boom, and Drasyre howled.

The Tornado swept overhead. It had fired two chaos rockets, which hit Drasyre in the hollow of his wing, and just behind his left foreleg. Bleeding and burning, the dragon plunged from the sky like a silver meteor and crashed into the trees, felling many and cracking many others.

Then there was silence.

Slasher dropped flat on her belly and panted like a steam engine. Sonic disentangled himself from her harness and jumped to the ground. "I gotta find my emerald," he exclaimed, and dashed away.  
The Tornado vanished northward, and the silence and stillness seemed heavy and unnatural after the motion and noise of a moment ago. Slasher closed her eyes and waited for Sonic to return.

* * *

The Tornado landed on the Knothole airstrip, its eyes cycling back to blue as Mecha disconnected himself from the computer. Tails met them as the canopy opened, arms folded.

"Hello Tails," said the Tornado.

"You are in SO much trouble," Tails told it. "You let Amy steal you."

"I am sorry, Tails," said the machine, its eyes dimming.

Amy climbed out of the cockpit. She and Tails looked at each other, then pointedly looked the other way. Amy opened the rear flap and let Mecha descend to the pavement.

"Mecha!" Tails exclaimed, lighting up. He ran to the android and almost threw his arms around him, but checked himself and shook Mecha's hand instead.

Mecha almost smiled. "Hello, Tails."

"What're you doing here?" asked Tails, already wondering what his semi-friend would think of his workshop.

Mecha's scarlet eyes moved from Tails and swept the village, then the sky. "Is Princess Sally still the administrator of Knothole?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I must speak to her. Lead me to her, please."

Sally emerged from her hut as they approached, her mouth set in a tight line. She saw Tails and Mecha and froze, mouth falling open. The sight of Metal Sonic walking so casually through Knothole village was a nightmare image held from the Freedom Fighter years, when Mecha would have liked nothing better than to gut them all. But, Sally reminded herself, times had changed. Knothole was no longer at war, and Mecha had unofficially declared a truce. He simply wasn't interested in fighting anymore.

She forced a smile and walked forward, making herself remember how Mecha had fought on their side on Deimos Island. She shook his hand and said, "Hello Mecha. Thank you for escorting Amy home."

"My pleasure," said Mecha with a nod. "However, I have an issue that I must discuss with you."

Sally raised her eyebrows and nodded.

Mecha pointed at the southern sky. "On our flight in, we witnessed the hedgehog and Slasher the velociraptor in combat with a five-ton silver dragon. I utilized the Tornado's missile system to disable the dragon, but I doubt that it is dead. It was flying toward Knothole when the hedgehog and Slasher intercepted it."

Sally nodded. She had watched the whole encounter with her Chaos tracker, but the tracker was top-secret and she would not speak of it here. "I was afraid of this. What do you suggest that we do?"

Mecha looked down at Aleda, whom he carried in the crook of one arm. They gazed at each other in silence for several seconds, communicating with their radio link, then Mecha turned to Sally. "There are several ways of slaying or subduing a dragon, but first I would like to know why the dragon is interested in Knothole."

Sally told him.

* * *

Spark came to himself on his hands and knees in a deep hollow under the trunk of a fallen tree. His nose was full of the scent of damp earth and crushed ferns, and there was blood in his mouth. Gingerly he touched his face and discovered an oozing gash in his lower lip. How long had he been running through the woods, out of his mind? His head still burned with fever, and his eyes ached. But the voices in his head were silent. He checked the sky. Almost evening. He had been out of it for maybe forty-five minutes.

He crawled out of the hollow, shaking, and had to lean against the tree in order to stand up. He was drained, exhausted, and had lost his knife. He didn't even know where he was, but he guessed that he was still in the Great Forest somewhere. He looked around, trying to spot a landmark, and froze.

Beyond the tree, behind Spark, was a swath of fallen trees, their trunks and branches snapped and splintered. In the midst of the destruction lay a mountain of silver scales, coiled limbs, and leathery wings. Closest of all was its head; a reptilian head with jaws large enough to swallow a car. They were slightly open, exposing long white teeth. The dragon's closest eye was half-open and heavily glazed. It looked dead.

Drasyre.

The subject of Spark's fears and dread lay before him, terrible even in defeat. As Spark's eyes adjusted to the dragon's size, he saw a jagged, bleeding wound on the dragon's left side. It had been burned and partly cauterized, and smelled like roasted meat. Drasyre's left wing had also been burned and damaged, and was curled tightly against his body by reflex.

"He's dead," Spark whispered aloud. "Somebody shot him down!" He wanted to venture closer and touch those shiny scales on Drasyre's snout, but didn't quite dare. The dragon who had hunted him--dead! Spark felt a rush of pride, as if he had killed Drasyre himself, instead of having awakened next to him. He wished he had a camera, or some way of obtaining evidence of the dead dragon that he could carry home ...

Drasyre's pupil narrowed to a slit.

Spark shrank back, and slipped into the hollow under the tree again. The dragon inhaled and moaned, and there was a good deal of crashing and rustling as he pulled his feet under him. Then his horned head reared into sight, blue eyes searching the trees. His nostrils worked, and he gnashed his teeth.

Then Drasyre met Spark's eyes.

Spark scrambled backward, out of the hollow, and ran for his life as Drasyre's claws slashed down, tearing trough the tree trunk and sinking into the soil beneath. Drasyre roared, "I have you, thief!"

Spark fled, and Drasyre pursued.

* * *

Sonic and an exhausted Slasher teleported back to Knothole. Sonic's emerald was grass-stained, but unharmed by its long fall. "Go tell Sally," said Slasher, wearily leaning against a fencepost. "I have to find Spark and warn him." Sonic nodded and darted away, and Slasher turned and plodded into the trees, wings hanging half-open.

Sonic saw Sally talking to Mecha, and suddenly felt uneasy, almost jealous. Mecha, his enemy, was standing in the midst of Sonic's haven, talking to Sonic's fiancé. With an effort Sonic forced back these emotions. They needed Mecha's brain for this, and Sonic would have to choke down his pride.

Sonic walked up to them. Sally's eyes lit up, but Mecha's face took on an icy, masked expression. "Hi Sal, hi Mecha," said Sonic. He made as though to shake Mecha's hand, thought better of it and waved instead.

Mecha did not move an inch. "Hello hedgehog," he growled. "I see that you survived your encounter with the dragon."

"Sure did," said Sonic, looking his robotic double in the eye. "Came back to report in. The dragon's dead, though."

"Highly improbable," said Mecha. "I struck the dragon with two Chaos missiles. While capable of dealing damage, they could not kill an animal that size."

"Well, I'm glad you're such an expert," said Sonic.

"Sonic," said Sally, giving him a pointed look that warned him to hold his tongue. Sonic turned his head and stared across the village.

"There are several ways of killing a dragon," said Mecha. "Most of these involve a sharp object to the heart or belly, but some have been killed by wounds to the head and eyes. I do not recommend these techniques, however, as they have a ninety-eight percent casualty rate."

"What do you recommend, then?" snapped Sonic.

Mecha gazed at him coldly. "I recommend luring the dragon into a trap where you will apply a sharp metal object to its vitals."

"You'd know, huh?" said Sonic. "Seeing as killing is your profession."

"Sonic, stop it," exclaimed Sally.

Sonic whirled and stomped away toward his hut.

Mecha watched him go, his free hand curled into claws. "I should not have come here," he whispered.

"Nonsense," said Sally. "Sonic is just ... over-sensitive. What do you think we should do to--"

A distant roar echoed through the forest. Seconds later a flock of terrified birds exploded out of the trees overhead, flying north. Sally, Mecha and Aleda watched them, then stared into the southern sky.

"He lives," said Mecha quietly. "And we haven't much time."

* * *

Spark ran blindly through the woods, dodging trees, leaping logs and rocks, not caring where he ran as long as it was away from the dragon. Drasyre lumbered behind him, snorting and growling, tearing a path through the forest growth and burning his way through the tangled patches. Spark dared not look back, but his ears told him all he needed to know--Drasyre would eat him alive.

In reality, Drasyre was badly wounded. He could not touch his left foreleg to the ground, and rapid movement and tree limbs had torn his injuries open wider. He was in pain that was rapidly approaching agony. It made him even angrier at the thief, and even more determined to catch him and rip him apart.

Drasyre roared, hoping to intimidate his prey into freezing. Spark only sped up, wishing that he had Sonic's running ability. His breath caught in his throat, and his fur was damp with sweat. His diseased body could not stand much more of this. Soon he would collapse, and Drasyre would eat him.

The trees opened into a wide natural clearing, and Spark stumbled into it. At the same time something moved at the far end, and he saw Slasher standing there, staring past him with her mouth open in horror. He ran toward her, and she crouched and turned, presenting her back to him. Spark flung himself onto her back, gripping a wing joint with his mechanical hand as she wheeled and ran.

"Slash," he panted, "we gotta get out of here!"

"I know," she replied through clenched teeth. "We're working on it."

* * *

Sonic closeted himself in his hut and called Knuckles on his communicator. When the echidna picked up, Sonic said, "Heya Knux. Would you mind doing me a favor?"

"Depends on the favor," said Knuckles.

"Pretty simple," said Sonic. "Could I borrow your sword?"

Knuckles was silent a long moment. "The Emerald Sword, Sonic? But it controls you."

"I gotta slay a dragon, here," said Sonic, trying not to sound terrified and sounding angry instead. "I want to lower Mecha's forecasted casualty rate as much as I can."

Knuckles hesitated, then said, "All right, then. I'll teleport out in a few minutes."

"And have Talon bring Max," said Sonic. "We're gonna need some healing around here before this is through."

There was a moment of silence, then Knuckles said slowly, "I'll have to talk to Zephyer about that, Sonic."

"Okay," said Sonic. "Meet you at the teleporter." He clicked off the com and hung it up, feeling sick to his stomach and very frightened. Try as he might, Sonic simply was not in control of the situation, and it seemed that all his decisions that day had gone astray.

* * *

Knuckles hung up his own communicator and looked over his shoulder. Zephyer and Talon were seated at the kitchen table, watching him. They had heard every word.

"Well?" he said.

Zephyer looked at Talon, then at her husband. "Talon's a better healer than Max, Knux. But if you take him, I don't want him near the fighting."

"I'll stay in Knothole!" Talon exclaimed, eyes lighting up. He might get to see a real live dragon!

Knuckles looked at his frail adopted son, and thought of a gigantic set of claws cleaving him in two. "I want you to stay near the teleporter. If anything happens, I want you to jump back home immediately. Understand?"

Talon nodded.

Knuckles walked off into the house and returned a few minutes later with a long box like a coffin. He opened it and pulled out the Emerald Sword in its sheath, wrapped carefully in burlap. Beneath it lay a suit of armor, made by the ancient echidnas for the Guardian. Knuckles put this on, and donned his shovelclaws. Then he hugged Zephyer and Talon, hefted the Emerald Sword, and walked out toward the Knothole-bound teleporter. Talon jogged beside him, nervous and excited.

* * *

Shadow lifted his head.

The black hedgehog was curled up on the floor of Nick's apartment, Nox cradled in his arms. The chao was huddled against him, whimpering, a throbbing knot on his head where he had collided with the chair. Shadow was doing his best to comfort Nox and atone for harming him, resting the back of his cold metal hand against Nox's head to ease the pain.

But this was interrupted as Mekion said, "Well well. Perhaps I shall let this transmission through."

"What?" said Shadow.

Mekion spoke slowly, relishing the news. "Metal Sonic is facing a dragon, and requests our aid."

"A what?" exclaimed Shadow aloud, sitting up. "Open the channel, Mekion!"

A window opened in Shadow's head, allowing Mecha's voice through. "Shadow? Can you hear me?"

"Yes," said Shadow through the network in his head. "Are you in danger?"

"Possibly," Mecha replied. He described the situation, ending with the business of slaying a dragon, and how little chance the villagers actually had. Mekion and Shadow both listened closely.

When he finished, Shadow asked, "You require my assistance, correct?"

"Yes," said Mecha. "Not only for myself ... for all these people. They cannot defend themselves, and we must fight for them."

Somewhere deep down, this resonated with Shadow's heart. He wanted to be a defender, not a destroyer. He wanted to save lives, not take them. But at the same time, Mekion whispered, "It is not your affair. If they meddle with dragons, they deserve the consequences." Why should Shadow bother to save people from their own messes?

He addressed Mecha. "No. Let them fend for themselves. Sonic, at least, is capable of killing a dragon."

Mecha said nothing for a long moment. "You will not assist us?"

"No," said Shadow and Mekion together.

"Very well," said Mecha, and ended the transmission.

Shadow gazed down at Nox. "I'm not going."

Nox only looked at him, an injured look in his eyes.

Shadow frowned. "It's none of my business. I don't care if they live or die. I don't care!"

Nox only continued to look at him.

Shadow got up and left Nox on the floor, and stalked into the kitchen. Like Sonic, he felt an agony of indecision. To help? Or not? He lifted his orange Chaos Emerald off the kitchen counter and gazed at it. "I don't care," he whispered to himself. But the desire to help battled with Mekion's logical arguments.

"I don't have to do anything," he murmured. "I'll just watch."

* * *

Drasyre halted, huffing, holding his left foreleg off the ground. The dragonkin whom he had battled had taken his prey and escaped, and Drasyre was hurting and tired. He couldn't move as fast as he used to, and the pain was clouding his judgement. In addition, his chaos supercharge had worn off, leaving him feeling ill.

He turned his head and licked the wound above his foreleg. There were leaves and twigs in it, each paining him like a needle stabbing the flesh. He carefully licked the wound clean, then uncurled his damaged wing. It hurt terribly, and the broken bones ground together as he moved it. Moaning in his throat, he folded it against his side again. He had better see a doctor or he might never fly again. Maybe Vector was right. Vigilante justice was too much work. But he was looking forward to killing the green hedgehog! Eh, maybe later. Right now was savagely thirsty. Between blood loss and using every drop of fire-chemical in his throat, as well as burning with the heat that this caused, he was dehydrated almost to the point of death.

The silver dragon raised his head and sniffed. There was water nearby. Limping badly, he set off to find it.

* * *

When Knuckles arrived in Knothole with the Emerald Sword, he and Sonic organized a dragon-hunting party.

Knuckles had arrived wearing the Guardian armor. Made of gold and emerald ore, it clothed him from head to toe in rock-solid protection that amplified his chaos field and his attunement with the Master Emerald. He had never used it away from the Floating Island, though, so he wasn't sure how well it would work.

Sonic took the Emerald Sword, a Mobian broadsword with a blade made of green stone as clear as glass. Set in the hilt was a fragment of the Eighth Chaos Emerald. Like Spark's fragment, it amplified the evil in the user. Sonic was particularly susceptible to it because of his extensive exposure to chaos power. But in a battle, there was no better weapon.

Mecha went with them because of his combat skill and knowledge, although neither he nor Sonic were happy about this. Sonic chaos-controlled them to the spot where Drasyre had fallen from the sky. There was a great flattened space of broken and fallen trees, but no dragon. His trail was easy to follow, however; it was fifteen feet wide and in some places still on fire. Blood spattered the ground.

"Good grief," muttered Knuckles as they hurried along. "Look how much blood this thing's lost. It'll be dead before we find it."

"I wish I knew where Spark was," said Sonic, jogging along in the lead. "It's too quiet out here."

"Perhaps the dragon already found him?" suggested Mecha.

Sonic shot him a poisonous look. "Don't even say that."

Mecha looked away from Sonic, jaw clenched, struggling to control his temper.

The dragon's trail twisted and turned, but for the most part it led northwest. Here and there they found Spark's footprints, showing that the dragon had followed him.

They came to a clearing, and suddenly the odd two-and-a-half toed tracks of Slasher intercepted Spark's. His prints vanished, and her prints led off west, spaced wide apart and deep, showing how fast she had been running.

It was growing dark by this time, and they were following the tracks by the green light of Sonic's sword. Mecha had the keenest eyes of the three, but he hung back, unwilling to communicate with Sonic in any way. Knuckles stood beside them, as armored as a tank, watching the ground and reading the footprints. Sonic led the way, holding out his sword, eyes roaming the trees, expecting to see the dragon at any moment.

The dragon's tracks pursued Slasher's for a while, then turned and led northeast. The trail faded and shrank, for the dragon moved slower and with more caution. Now they followed a small trail with only occasional footprints, and portions of flattened brush. "He's not chasing them anymore," said Knuckles. "What's he doing?"

"No idea," said Sonic. He glanced at Mecha. "What do you think?"

The dusk had reduced Mecha to a shadowy blotch with a startling pair of glowing red eyes. "The dragon is weary," said Mecha. "I have little knowledge of dragon psychology, but due to loss of blood and the length of time that he has been active, I surmise that perhaps he is thirsty."

Knuckles and Sonic looked at each other. The nearest body of water in this area of the woods was the stream-fed pond outside of Knothole. The dragon was headed straight towards it.

* * *

In fact, Drasyre had already reached the pond. He waded out into it, dipped his chin and gulped down the refreshing coolness. His senses told him that he was near a small town, but he didn't care. Sometimes a dragon had to quench his fires, and Drasyre was doing just that.

He lifted his head and sighed, puffing a jet of steam into the cool evening air. As the air cleared, he saw a person standing on the far bank of the pool, watching him.

Drasyre stood perfectly still, the water rippling around his legs and belly, nostrils working. It was not the thief. It was a young Mobian, scarcely more than a cub, watching him as if entranced. Slowly the cub raised a hand and waved.

"Hello," growled Drasyre.

"Hi," said the youngster in a small voice. "Are ... are you Drasyre, sir?"

"Yes," rumbled the dragon. The child was no threat, so he dipped his jaws in the water and drank some more.

"I'm Talon," said the child. He watched Drasyre drink, marveling. In the twilight, the dragon looked mythical and ghostly, as if he might disappear in a mist. Talon ventured, "Are you here to kill us, sir?"

Drasyre lifted his head, letting the cool water trickle down his throat, and exhaled another lungful of steam. "No," he said. "I am here for justice. The thief who wronged me shall be slain and no one else."

"Oh," said Talon, thinking of the dragonslayers who were out in the woods at that moment. He watched the dragon in a combination of fear and wonder. He had never seen a real dragon before, and it seemed a shame that Drasyre had to die. "Um, sir," he said, "if the thief could repay you in some way ... would you still kill him?"

Drasyre lifted his head and studied Talon. "Repay me?"

Talon nodded.

Drasyre snapped at his own reflection in the water. "By running from me, the thief has negated any other atonement for his crime."

Talon glanced over his shoulder into the woods, and shivered. "But ... what if he stopped running, sir?"

Drasyre lowered his head and gazed at Talon. This child was not alone. He sniffed, but the breeze was carrying away the scent of whoever lurked back there in the darkening trees. Then Drasyre looked at the wound on his side, and reconsidered his thirst for revenge. If the thief stopped running, then Drasyre was willing to negotiate a suitable punishment for the theft. After all, the stolen Chaos Emerald was clutched in Drasyre's right claw.

"If the thief stopped running," said Drasyre, "I would be merciful and let him live. But he still must be punished."

Two other figures stepped out of the woods behind Talon. One was the six-limbed dragonkin, and the other: the thief himself.

Drasyre snarled in recognition. "I should burn you where you stand, thief."

The hedgehog nodded. He was trembling like a leaf. "My name is Spark. Please, lord Drasyre, don't kill me. I'm ill, and I hoped that the Chaos Emerald could cure me."

Talon looked at Spark in sudden understanding and excitement.

Drasyre snorted and waded forward, deeper into the pond. "You are ill and I am injured. Why did you run from me?"

"Because ..." Spark hesitated. "Because, well, you're a dragon."

Drasyre reached the shallows of the pond on their side, and stood with his head and shoulders rearing out of the water. Talon and Slasher backed away, leaving Spark facing the dragon.

"And you thought that running from a dragon was the safest thing, hm?" said Drasyre. Spark nodded. Drasyre glared down at him with his cold blue eyes. "Justice shall be served. But because you sought me out, rather than running, I shall relax your sentence. Now you shall--"

At that moment a terrible thing happened.

There was a flash of light, and Sonic, Knuckles and Mecha appeared out of nowhere on the bank of the pond. Seeing his brother and the dragon face to face, Sonic assumed that Drasyre was going to eat Spark at any second.

"Nooo!" Sonic yelled, darting forward, sword outstretched. He accelerated to eighty miles an hour in the space of a second, and hit Drasyre in the chest, sword-first. The blade sliced through sinew and bone, seeking the heart, but missed and pierced both lungs instead.

The force of the impact knocked Drasyre backwards into the water. The water closed over his head, and the breath left Drasyre's body in a huge bubble. He clawed and flailed, but the deadly pain in his chest had paralyzed his forelegs. He beat and twisted his tail, and managed to turn over and lift his head out of the water. But that was no help. He could feel the air, taste it on his tongue, but he could not inhale it.

"What a horrible way to die," he thought as he collapsed on his side on the bank.

Spark and Sonic were bellowing at each other, Spark at Sonic for attacking Drasyre just when they were working things out, and Sonic in indignation for being yelled at when he thought he was protecting Spark. Slasher tried to interrupt them, found that she couldn't, and knocked them both flat with a blow from her tail. "Sonic!" she barked. "Give Talon your Chaos Emerald!"

Sonic got up and tossed Talon the gem. Talon sprinted to the dying dragon and tugged at the hilt of the sword protruding from his chest, but he wasn't strong enough to budge it.

Then Mecha was there. The android wrapped both hands around the hilt and wrenched it out of the dragon's chest. The blade emerged, bloody and disappointed, and the wound bled dark down the silver scales.

Talon rested one hand on Drasyre's chest, and felt the dragon's whole body in distress, laboring to draw air into the punctured lungs and failing. "Drasyre sir," he said, "it's okay. Hold still."

The dragon somehow obeyed, quivering.

Talon closed his eyes and pulled power from the glittering gem in his hand. A burst of warm power flowed through him into the dragon, seeking out and mending the torn lungs, the severed muscles. Drasyre lifted his head and coughed, then drew in a painful, ratting breath. His right forepaw came down dangerously close to Talon, but Talon didn't notice. His eyes were closed, focused on keeping the healing transfer active as long as he could. The dragon was so big that he needed a lot of power to mend.

Knuckles couldn't stand it. He had watched his friends use chaos power before, and had used it himself. But Talon was his adopted son, and Knuckles couldn't handle the sight of Talon, so small and vulnerable, using such a big power within the arms of a dragon. He ran forward and stood behind Talon, placing both hands on his shoulders. "I'm here, Tal," said Knuckles. "Keep going, you're doing fine." Talon had faltered at Knuckles's touch, but regained his concentration and kept working, as his chao had showed him.

Drasyre propped himself up on both forelegs, stretched out his neck and coughed some more. His lungs were clearing, and the terrible deep pain was receding. But he was aware that he must keep perfectly still. He needed the child's healing, and had to take care not to harm him. He extended his broken wing and felt the comforting healing warmth touch it.

"Lower your wing," said a voice.

Drasyre saw Spark standing there. Drasyre lowered his wing within the hedgehog's grasp, and Spark said, "Let me straighten the bones or they'll heal crooked. This might hurt."

'Might hurt' was an understatement. Spark pulled the fragile bones in the dragon's wing out straight, and Drasyre barely kept from biting him in half from the pain. But instantly following the pain came the soothing touch of healing. The flesh and muscles rebuilt themselves, and the pain shrank and vanished.

Spark held the wing's bones in place, and as it healed, he felt the gentle warmth flow into him, as well. It filled his entire body with peace, mending his infected cells and sweeping them away. He felt better than he had in years; then his stomach contracted, and he dropped to all fours and threw up. But what came up was a black, tarry substance--the poison itself, which the healing power had drawn from his body. He stood up again, wiping his mouth, and found that he was strong again. No more weakness or sickness, no more infection. He wasn't even afraid of Drasyre anymore. He felt as if he could take off and fly.

Sonic and Mecha watched all this, speechless. Slasher stood back a short distance, also watching, but wary. She was afraid of what might happen once everyone was well.

But she need not have worried. Talon released Drasyre and slumped backward into Knuckles's arms. Knuckles lifted the young anteater and carried him away from the dragon, back toward the village. As he passed Sonic, Mecha and Slasher, he paused a moment. In his arms, Talon was asleep with a smile on his face. Knuckles handed the green Chaos Emerald to Sonic. "I'm taking Talon home. He's done enough. Make sure nobody ticks off the dragon, all right?" They all nodded, and Knuckles walked off.

Spark walked around and stood in front of Drasyre. The dragon lowered his head to match Spark's eye level, and they spoke in low voices.

Sonic walked off a little ways, picked up the Emerald Sword from where Mecha had flung it, and cleaned off the blood in the pond. Mecha watched him, arms folded. "Well hedgehog, it seems that you got to be a dragonslayer after all."

Sonic looked over his shoulder. "So what does that make you?"

Mecha looked at Drasyre and Spark. "I am not certain," he said quietly. "You see Spark there. I remember when he was very young, and lost. I ... pitied him." Mecha remembered the Mobitropolis coup clearly. He had been a young robot then, scarcely six months out of the laboratory, just beginning to learn about the world. Feeling pity for someone had been new and alien to him. Mecha had not even known what pity was, but he kept the young hedgehog from extermination and the roboticizer. Looking back on it, Mecha realized that even then he had been lonely and sought companionship wherever he could. He sighed.

Spark turned and walked up to them, grinning. "Guess what my punishment is."

"You have to polish his treasure for a year," said Sonic.

"Nope!" said Spark. "I have to take him on a tour of Mobius so he can find things to expand his treasure trove."

Mecha looked up at the dragon. "Do you plan to become a thief, yourself?"

"No," said Drasyre, also grinning. "I plan to buy it with the gold already in my horde. That was why I transformed myself. To walk anonymously among you Mobians."

"Some punishment," said Sonic. "You should have eaten him. By the way, sorry about, ah ..." He gestured to his chest.

Drasyre shook his head. "You are forgiven. Due to the nobility of young Talon, no permanent harm was done."

Drasyre lifted the mud-caked claw that was still curled around the white Chaos Emerald. He held it out at arm's length, and tendrils of light wrapped around his body. They pulled back into the emerald, and he shrank once more into a dog with silver fur.

"Now I can greet your people without terrifying them," said Drasyre, stroking the emerald.

Spark thumped him on the back. "Come on, then!"

The group walked up the path toward Knothole, laughing and talking. Only Mecha hung back. In the darkness under the trees he had glimpsed a single red eye, and he walked slowly toward it. "Shadow?" he called softly.

"Hello Mecha," came the hedgehog's low, husky voice. "I came, did I not?"

"Yes," said Mecha. "Why did you not help?"

"My help was not needed," said Shadow, stepping out of the trees. The starlight gleamed on his metal left side. "I watched, and that is all. Now I have business elsewhere."

Mecha gazed at him, feeling the pity that he had felt for Spark so long ago. "Continue to fight Mekion, Shadow. It is your only chance."

Shadow looked down. "Yes. But sometimes I wonder if perhaps he is right after all."

Mecha shook his head. "He is insane. He will drive you mad if you let him."

"Yes." Shadow turned away. "I must go now. We will meet again, perhaps."

"Perhaps," said Mecha.

Shadow teleported in a flash and a gust of wind, and Mecha flinched. "Ah, Shadow," he said to the darkness. "If only I could tell you what Mekion truly is."

He hunched his shoulders and walked off along the outskirts of the village, where Aleda awaited him at the road leading south. He would be miles away by dawn.


	12. Chapter 12: Epilogue

Chapter 12 - Epilogue 

It was two days later. The sun shone in a clear, cold sky, and Spark was packing.

"I don't believe your luck," said Serena, who was sitting in the corner, watching him. "You get to ride on dragonback."

"You'd better believe it!" Spark exclaimed, grabbing a spare headband and examining it. "And I get to go globe-trot, which is what I'd rather do more than anything ..."

"I can't believe how well you two get along," said Serena. "I mean, you robbed him and he wanted to eat you."

"I know," said Spark, sitting back on his heels. "He's a great guy. For a dragon. Did you know that he's addicted to spicy food?"

Serena laughed. "Doesn't surprise me."

He looked at her. "You move slow with Spike, you hear me?"

Serena raised an eyebrow. "Who's leaving the country in ten minutes?"

"Seriously," said Spark. "I'm friends with a dragon, and if I have to have him eat a porcupine for me, I will."

Serena stuck her tongue out at him.

Spark didn't have much more to pack--a coat, extra socks and gloves, and some quill combs. He zipped his backpack and tossed it on his bed. "Well," he said, looking at it, "guess that's everything. All I have to do now is wait for him to pick me up."

Serena got up and hugged him. "I wish you didn't have to go already," she said, choking up. "You just got here!"

"I know," said Spark, releasing her. "But look. We'll probably come back through in a couple of months. Drasyre has his eye on some auctions in Sapphire City that are scheduled for this summer."

Serena smiled and sniffed. "I keep telling myself that. Well, you take care of yourself, okay?"

"I will, 'Rena," he said.

They parted ways at his front door. Serena trotted off toward her own hut, and Spark walked the other way, up the street, whistling. Knothole was quiet this time of morning, for everyone was at school or work. As he walked, he caught sight of a lone figure huddled on a rock on the forest's edge. Pink hair. Amy.

Spark stopped at the foot of the boulder. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," said Amy.

Spark motioned to the boulder. "Mind if I sit down?"

She shrugged, and moved over to make room. Spark sat down beside her, and she gave him a dirty look. "So, you going to make fun of me like everybody else?"

"Make fun of you?" said Spark. "Why?"

"For my choice in dates," said Amy, staring at the ground. "For stealing the Tornado. For everything."

"No," said Spark. "I thought you were brave to do all that."

She looked quizzical. "Brave?"

"Yeah, I know that doesn't mean much," said Spark, "coming from a thief and a coward. At least you had the guts to come home and face the music."

"That wasn't guts," said Amy. "There was nothing else I could do." Her face worked, as if trying to hold back tears. "And Shadow was really, really mean to me."

Spark patted her on the back, and Amy burst into tears. She turned and cried into his shoulder, and Spark held her and let her get it out of her system. After a while she calmed down, and sat sniffing and wiping her eyes. "Thanks," she said. "Why are you being nice to me?"

"Why?" Spark was taken aback. "Uh ... I don't know. You looked upset."

Amy looked around. "Sonic didn't put you up to this?"

"No," said Spark. "C'mon, I'm not THAT big of a cad, am I?"

"I don't know," said Amy, sniffing. "It's just that nobody likes me."

"I know how that feels," said Spark. "I was a bounty hunter for years. You get used to being hated."

Amy stared at him. "You were a bounty hunter?"

"Yep," said Spark, and launched into a tale of one of his adventures in South Mobius.

A silver-furred dog appeared up the street and walked toward them. Spark saw him and broke off. "Oh, there's my ride. I gotta go, Amy." He jumped off the rock.

Amy followed him. "How long will you be gone?"

"Oh, six months to a year," said Spark, dashing into his hut and emerging with his backpack. He slung it over one shoulder.

"Could--could you write to me sometimes?" Amy asked.

Spark looked at her, an insecure young hedgehog, and for an instant his stomach flip-flopped. "She's too young for you," he told himself. "And way too nice." Aloud he said, "Sure, Amy, whenever we're somewhere with a post office."

She watched as Drasyre transformed into his dragon-self, and helped Spark sit on the base of his neck, between the spikes on his backbone. Amy waved as they leaped away into the sky with a blast of wind from the dragon's wings.

"Friend of yours?" asked Drasyre as they cleared the trees.

"Sort of," said Spark. He looked back and waved at the dot of pink now far behind and below them.

"It's not every day you find a girl like that," said Drasyre. "I'll be sure to take you back for visits when we're in the vicinity."

"Okay," said Spark, and couldn't hide his grin.

End 


End file.
